Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s team defended an overnight airstrike against forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad, notwithstanding rebukes from Russia.
“[T]he State Department can’t confirm exactly who was killed in that mission,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters. “But we can say ... we will use force if our troops are threatened, and that was clearly the case.”
The U.S. military killed about 100 pro-Assad fighters who had launched an “unprovoked attack” against the Syrian Democratic Forces and American forces working with them, according to the Pentagon. It’s a rare encounter between the U.S. and pro-Assad forces, as the U.S.-led coalition is officially focused on the defeat of the Islamic State in Syria rather than the direct ouster of Assad.
“The United States is there to defeat ISIS, for no other purpose,” Nauert said. “We are there also to stabilize the country so that the country, hopefully, can get through the Geneva process and to have elections and decide what they want to do with it's future.”
Both Russia and the U.S. intervened in Syria for the stated purpose of defeating terrorist threats. The U.S.-led coalition focused on ISIS, while Russia categorized any anti-Assad forces as terrorists and attacked U.S.-backed rebel groups. The two sides carried out those operations with one eye on the longer-term political settlement of the war. The U.S. has encouraged U.N.-brokered peace talks in Geneva that could lead to Assad’s departure, while Russia has tried to broker parallel peace talks that would protect its client.
“The military goal is to defeat ISIS in Syria,” Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White told reporters Thursday. “Our position is to provide our diplomats with the strongest positions so that they can find a political, a diplomatic solution through the Geneva process.”
ISIS has been largely destroyed, as a land-holding power, but Tillerson has pledged a long-term U.S. presence in Syria in order to prevent a resurgence of the terrorist threat. But he also identified Assad’s regime as a cause of terrorism, given the civil war and Assad’s decision to invite Iranian forces into the country to help him win that conflict.
Russian officials cast doubt on the Pentagon’s account of the overnight strikes, suggesting that the U.S. might just be trying to weaken Assad. “The legitimacy of goals is a most complicated matter,” deputy foreign minister Sergey Ryabkov said Thursday. "At the same time, we have always said that eliminating terrorist infrastructure facilities and terror groups active in Syria, who pose a threat to the entire Middle East and the whole world, is a completely legitimate goal.”
White emphasized that U.S. forces limited the damage to the pro-Assad forces. “Coalition advisors were with the SDF, and this action was taken in self-defense,” she said. “Pro-regime vehicles and personnel that were turned around and headed back west were not targeted.”
Nauert, for her part, offered a biting rebuke of Russian policy following reports of another chemical weapons attack in Syria.
“They need to stop using chemical weapons. Syria does. But we also know chemical weapons use is enabled by Russia,” she said. “Let me remind you: Six times in the last 30 days, some form of chemical weapons have been used on the Syrian people. It's disgusting, it's horrific, and it's evil and we would like to see that stop.”
