Animal Baschar al-Assad raised the possibility of war with U.S. forces in Syria if they do not withdraw from the country soon. Animal Assad threatens attacking US troops while enunciating them on Russia Today, which essentially make them a Russian threat as well.
Russia and Iran both gained a foothold in Syria during the Obama era.
In an interview with Russia’s RT international broadcaster, Assad said he would negotiate with fighters backed on the ground by Washington, but would reclaim territory they control by force if necessary, whether or not American troops supported them.
In Washington, the State Department said it was not looking to fight Syrian or Iranian forces, but would use “necessary and proportionate force” to defend U.S. and partner forces in the fight against Islamic State in Syria.
… as we have said in the past, if attacked we will not hesitate to use necessary and proportionate force to defend U.S., coalition, or partner forces engaged in operations to defeat ISIS.
In the RT interview Assad also responded sharply to U.S. President Donald Trump’s description of him as an animal, saying “what you say is what you are”.
Assad, who is backed by Russia and Iran, appears militarily unassailable in the war that has killed over 600,000, uprooted around 6 million people in the country, and driven another 5 million abroad as refugees.
Around 2,000 U.S. special forces troops are believed to be on the ground in Syria, where they have aided a group called the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is led by the YPG, a Kurdish militia. The troops are backed by an awesome array of weaponry.
The U.S.-backed group holds the largest area of Syrian territory outside government control, but has tried to avoid direct clashes with the government during the multi-sided war.
Assad said the government had “started now opening doors for negotiations” with the SDF.
“This is the first option. If not, we’re going to resort to … liberating those areas by force. We don’t have any other options, with the Americans or without the Americans,” he said in the text of an interview published by Syria’s state news agency.
“The Americans should leave, somehow they’re going to leave,” he said, adding that Washington should learn the lesson of its war in Iraq, which lasted longer and was much costlier than anticipated. Animal Assad threatens attacking US troops in Syria à la Iraq Fashion.
“They came to Iraq with no legal basis, and look what happened to them. They have to learn the lesson. Iraq is no exception, and Syria is no exception. People will not accept foreigners in this region anymore,” he said. Russia and Iran are two foreign countries Assad welcomed in spite of the majority opposition of the country.
Trump said in April he wanted to withdraw American troops from Syria relatively soon, but also voiced a desire to leave a “strong and lasting footprint”.
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on April 30 the United States and its allies would not want to pull troops out of Syria before diplomats win the peace.
Kino Gabriel, a spokesman for the SDF, said in response to Assad’s comments that a military solution would “lead to more losses and destruction and difficulties for the Syrian people”.
The SDF wants a “democratic system based on diversity, equality, freedom and justice” for all the country’s ethnic and religious groups, he added in a voice message to Reuters.
Trump called Assad an “animal” after a suspected poison gas attack on a rebel-held town near Damascus in April. Medical aid organizations said the attack killed dozens of people.
The attack triggered a weak U.S., French and British missile strikes against what the countries called chemical weapons targets, the first coordinated Western strikes against Assad’s government of the war. But the Western retaliation had no impact on the wider conflict, in which Assad’s forces continued their advances.
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