Obama admits failure to handle Syria tragedy

Former US President Barack Obama has admitted that his administration failed to deal with the “Syrian tragedy” during his presidency.

In an interview with German channel NTV on Wednesday, Obama expressed: “In the field of foreign policy, the tragedy in Syria continues to cause me real pain. During the events of 2011 that occurred in a number of Arab countries, Egypt was at the top of my concerns, and then Libya, and after that the Syrian crisis began to worsen.”

“I was not able to attract and convince the international community not to allow the collapse of Syria. So far, I have not been able to stop thinking about the human tragedies that occurred after that,” he added.

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Obama acknowledged that he was facing severe criticism in the US and abroad following his refusal to send land forces to Syria, noting that “many people see this position as negative.”

He blamed the Democratic Party for the failure to boost his popularity, indicating: “Even after my re-election we were unable to obtain a majority in the Senate. I was more restricted than I wanted when I passed some laws.”

It has been reported that Bashar Al-Assad’s regime is responsible for the deaths of more than half a million Syrians during Obama’s second term, which ended in 2016. In addition, the regime imposed a siege on hundreds of thousands of people in many parts of Syria, causing the displacement of millions in the country and abroad.