Tillerson Vows Indefinite US Presence In Syria

Bloomberg reports:

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urged patience in waiting out Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, saying there’s no place for him in the war-torn country’s future while vowing that the U.S. military will remain to counter Islamic State, al-Qaeda and Iran.

In remarks prepared for a policy speech Wednesday on the Syrian war, Tillerson called for closer cooperation with Russia to avoid conflict in “de-escalation zones.” He also offered financial aid and diplomatic assistance to help rebuild areas shattered by almost seven years of civil war and said Assad’s eventual departure is inevitable.

“Responsible change may not come as immediately as some hope for, but rather through an incremental process of constitutional reform and UN-supervised elections,” Tillerson said in the prepared remarks for his speech at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution in California. “But change will come.”

Buzzfeed News reports:

The speech represents the most comprehensive case Tillerson has ever made for a lasting US military presence in the war-torn country and marks a departure from language drafted between the US and Russian officials in Vietnam in November.

It is likely to revive debate in Congress between staunch advocates of regime change and those who fear an open-ended commitment to a US presence in Syria. A central pillar to Tillerson’s plan, delivered in a speech at Stanford University, is a UN-supervised election that Tillerson predicted would result in new leadership.

“The United States believes that free and transparent elections … will result in the permanent departure of Assad and his family from power,” said Tillerson.