Trump claims Turkey behind overthrow of Assad government in Syria

“He’s a very smart guy and he’s very tough. But Turkey did an unfriendly takeover without a lot of lives being lost. I can say Assad was a butcher, what he did to children,” Trump said during a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, adding that he didn’t know what the outcome of Assad’s collapse would be.

“One of the sides has been essentially wiped out. Nobody knows who the other side is. But I do. You know who it is? Turkey. Okay? Turkey is the one behind it. He’s [Erdogan] a very smart guy. They’ve wanted it for thousands of years, and he got it.”

Trump went on to say that “those people who went in and got it” – referring to the rebel offensive led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) that culminated in December – are controlled by Turkey.

“And that’s okay, that’s another way to fight,” he noted.

Trump said he got along well with Erdogan and credited him for creating a “major military force” that had not yet been worn out with war.

“I mean, he’s built a very strong, powerful army,” he stated.

The US and Turkey, despite being NATO allies, have for years been at loggerheads during Syria’swar.

Trump has opposed a US military presence in Syria and in 2018 ordered the withdrawal of 2,000-2500 US troops from the country during his first tenure as president.

On Monday he added that the remaining 900 US troops in Syria were no longer a danger because “the other side had been decimated”.

The US presence in Syria was primarily focused on the Syrian Democratic Forces and has been a sore point in its relationship with Turkey, which views the SDF as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The PKK has waged a decades-long guerrilla war in southern Turkey and is labelled a terrorist organisation by the US and the European Union.

The US worked with and trained the SDF to prevent the Islamic State group (IS) from establishing a foothold in Syria.

Turkey’s concerns about the PKK led it to launch an invasion of Syria in 2016, with the aim of depriving Kurdish fighters of a quasi-state along its border. Two more military forays followed in 2018 and 2019. The SDF did not play a role in the recent rebel offensive and received little support from the US as they suffered territorial losses to Turkey-backed rebels.

During his news conference Trump said that he honoured the US’ so-called “red line” against chemical weapons use in Syria by firing missiles at the country, and accused former President Barack Obama of not honouring the commitment he had made.