Trump says US should stay out of fighting in Syria

President-elect Donald Trump said Saturday that the U.S. military should stay out of the escalating conflict in Syria as a shock opposition offensive closes in on the capital, declaring in a social media post, "THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT.”With world leaders watching the rapid rebel advance against Syria's Russian- and Iranian-backed president, Bashar Assad, President Joe Biden's national security adviser separately stressed that the Biden administration had no intention of intervening.“The United States is not going to. The war, which began as a mostly peaceful uprising in 2011 against the Assad family's rule, has killed a half-million people, fractured Syria and drawn in a more than a half-dozen foreign militaries and militias.The insurgents are led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which the U.S. has designated as a terrorist group and says has links to al-Qaida, although the group has since broken ties with al-Qaida.The insurgents have met little resistance so far from the Syrian army, the Russian and Iranian militaries or allied militias in the country.The Biden administration says Syrian opposition forces' capture of government-held cities demonstrates just how diminished those countries are by wars in Ukraine, Gaza and Lebanon.“Assad’s backers — Iran, Russia and Hezbollah — have all been weakened and distracted," Sullivan said Saturday at an annual gathering of national security officials, defense companies and lawmakers at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.“None of them are prepared to provide the kind of support to Assad that they provided in the past,” he later added.The U.S. has about 900 troops in Syria, including U.S. forces working with Kurdish allies in the opposition-held northeast to prevent any resurgence of the Islamic State group.Gen. “It’s still too early to tell,” he said.What would not change is the focus on disrupting IS operations in Syria and protecting U.S. troops, Fenton said during a panel at the Reagan event.Syrian opposition activists and regional officials have been watching closely for any indication from the incoming Trump administration, in particular on how the U.S. would respond to the rebel advances against Assad.Robert Wilkie, Trump's defense transition chief and a former secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, said during the same panel that the collapse of the “murderous Assad regime” would be a major blow to Iran's power.The United Nations' special envoy for Syria called Saturday for urgent talks in Geneva to ensure an “orderly political transition” in Syria.In his post, Trump said Russia “is so tied up in Ukraine” that it “seems incapable of stopping this literal march through Syria, a country they have protected for years.” He said rebels could possibly force Assad from power.The president-elect condemned the overall U.S. handling of the war but said the routing of Assad and Russian forces might be for the best.“Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. Moustafa pledged to reporters Saturday that opposition forces would be alert for any U.S. detainees among them and do their utmost to protect them.Moustafa said that includes Austin Tice, an American journalist missing for more than a decade and suspected to be held by Assad.Hayat Tahrir al-Sham renounced al-Qaida in 2016 and has worked to rebrand itself, including cracking down on some Islamic extremist groups and fighters in its territory and portraying itself as a protector of Christians and other religious minorities.While the U.S. and United Nations still designate it as a terrorist organization, Trump's first administration told lawmakers that the U.S. was no longer targeting the group's leader, Abu Mohammed al-Golani.