US priority on Syria no longer focused on 'getting Assad out' - US' Nikki Haley

The United States’ diplomatic policy on Syria for now is no longer focused on making the war-torn country’s president, Bashar Al-Assad, leave power, the US ambassador to the UN said yesterday.

The view of the Trump administration is also at odds with European powers, who insist Al-Assad must step down. The shift drew a strong rebuke from at least two Republican senators.

“You pick and choose your battles and when we’re looking at this, it’s about changing up priorities and our priority is no longer to sit there and focus on getting Assad out,” US Ambassador Nikki Haley told a small group of reporters.

Read more: US official on official visit to Turkey

“Do we think he’s a hindrance? Yes. Are we going to sit there and focus on getting him out? No,” she said. “What we are going to focus on is putting the pressure in there so that we can start to make a change in Syria.”

In Ankara yesterday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Al-Assad’s longer-term status “will be decided by the Syrian people.”

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The Obama administration, in its later years, was focused on reaching a deal with Russia that would eventually see Assad go, though it also shifted its focus to the fight against Daesh, who captured swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria in 2014.

Read: US-backed Syrian militia corners Daesh in Raqqa

As presidential nominee, Donald Trump said defeating Daesh was a higher priority than persuading Assad to step down.

“We can’t necessarily focus on Assad the way that the previous administration did,” said Haley.

Our priority is to really look at how do we get things done, who do we need to work with to really make a difference for the people in Syria.

Britain and France reinforced their stance on Assad earlier yesterday.

French UN Ambassador Francois Delattre told reporters: “Assad is not and cannot be the future of his country.”