With the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and other militants groups, Washington had reason to worry about who might replace President Bashar al-Assad if his government fell, said the spy chief.
Asked whether the U.S. feared who might succeed Assad, Brennan said: "I think that's a legitimate concern.”
Speaking at an event at the Council on Foreign Relations, he said that "extremist elements" including the ISIS group and al-Qaeda veterans are "ascendant right now" in some parts of Syria.
"The last thing we want to do is allow them to march into Damascus."
"That's why it's important to bolster those forces within the Syrian opposition that are not extremists," he added.
- Also on Friday, the United Stated made a fresh call for Assad to step down marking the fourth anniversary of the civil war.
- The U.S. military is funding the training and arming of "moderate" Syrian rebel forces but the effort is only now getting off the ground.
"None of us, Russia, the United States, coalition, and regional states, wants to see a collapse of the government and political institutions in Damascus," Brennan said.
The international community favored an eventual settlement that would bring a "representative government that is going to try to address the grievances that exist throughout the country."
Brennan, who worked for years at the spy agency before he became a top counter-terrorism adviser to Obama, took over as the head of the Central Intelligence Agency in March 2013.
[alarabiya.net With AFP]
14/3/15
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John Kerry: U.S. must eventually negotiate with Assad...
ReplyDeleteThe United States will have to negotiate with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to remove him from power and bring the Syrian civil war to a close, Secretary of State John Kerry said in an interview that aired Sunday.
Kerry said the U.S. is working hard to ratchet up pressure on the Syrian regime to bring Assad to the table to negotiate a political transition and stem what Kerry called "one of the worst tragedies any of us have seen on the face of the planet." .........http://edition.cnn.com/2015/03/15/politics/john-kerry-negotiate-assad-syria/index.html
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ReplyDeleteIm Syrien-Konflikt erwägen die Vereinigten Staaten nach den Worten von Außenminister John Kerry Gespräche mit der Regierung von Präsident Baschar al Assad. "Am Ende werden wir verhandeln müssen", sagte er dem US-Fernsehsender CBS. "Jeder stimmt zu, dass es keine militärische Lösung gibt. Es gibt nur eine politische Lösung."
Kerry sagte, die USA seien entschlossen, Assad klarzumachen, dass dieser seine Einstellung zu Verhandlungen ändern müsse. Möglicherweise sei "Druck verschiedener Art" nötig, um Assad an den Verhandlungstisch zu bekommen und damit einen politischen Übergang in Syrien zu erzwingen. Die USA zögen dazu eine Reihe von Schritten in Erwägung. Einzelheiten dazu nannte Kerry nicht............http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/syrien-kerry-assad-verhandlungen-101.html
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