Biden offers a blueprint for US support in Syria, announces airstrikes against ISIS targets

CNN — President Joe Biden on Sunday called the extraordinary fall of the Assad regime in Syria “a moment of risk” and “historic opportunity” while offering a blueprint for how the US plans to support the region. “The United States will do whatever we can to support them, including through humanitarian relief, to help restore Syria after more than a decade of war and generation of brutality by the Assad family.” A senior administration official echoed that sentiment to CNN on Sunday, saying the US will be “engaging with the broad spectrum of Syrian society, opposition groups, groups on the ground in Syria, exile groups.” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed Biden’s comments, saying in a statement Sunday that the US strongly supports a peaceful transition of power to an accountable Syrian government. Omar Haj Kadour/AFP/Getty Images A man walks by a broken portrait of the late Syrian president Hafez al-Assad as people search his son's ransacked private residence in the Malkeh district of Damascus on December 8. Bakr Alkasem/AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Syrian rebels topple Assad regime Prev Next Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, who heads HTS, declared victory for the “entire Islamic nation” on Sunday in his first public remarks since the rebel-led coup, which he said “marks a new chapter in the history of the region.” He said the armed opposition ultimately plans to form a government defined by institutions and a “council chosen by the people.” The senior Biden administration official said Sunday the White House has also “been concentrated” over the last week on the issue of any remaining chemical weapons in the Syria, calling it a “top-tier priority.” The senior official did not envision a scenario in which the administration would put US forces on the ground to deal with the chemical weapons. Blinken said the US will support international efforts to hold the Assad regime and its backers accountable for atrocities perpetrated against the Syrian people, including “the use of chemical weapons and the unjust detention of civilians such as Austin Tice.” Biden also reiterated his commitment to bringing home freelance journalist Austin Tice, who has been held in Syria since 2012.