President Biden Delivers Remarks on Syria

This is a moment of considerable risk and uncertainty. But I also believe this is the best opportunity in generations for Syrians to forge their own future.

President Biden on the fall of the Assad regime in Syria.

Why It Matters: President Biden’s remarks underscored the importance of the change in leadership in Syria. President Biden emphasized that one of the major takeaways from this moment is that the usual allies of Syria (the terrorist group Hezbollah, Iran and Russia) did not support the Assad regime and take up the fight against the rebels. The president says this shows how much the world has changed during his administration — and how much our adversaries have been weakened by America and our allies (Israel and Ukraine). He also promised to ensure that ISIS does not rise to power again and spoke about preemptive strikes by America on ISIS positions.

Something To Consider: Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) posted this on X: “I appreciate the air strikes against ISIS targets in Syria, but it will not be enough. We have to ensure that the roughly 50,000 ISIS prisoners in northeastern Syria — being primarily held by Kurdish forces — are not released.”

In a separate post by Senator Graham on X: “With the recent collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, the game changes dramatically. It’s a big loss for Russia and Iran, which is good. However, the jihadist forces that have replaced Assad create major problems for Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. As to U.S. interests in Syria, there are over 50,000 ISIS prisoners primarily being held by the Kurdish forces who helped President Trump destroy the caliphate. These ISIS fighters planned and executed plots against the American homeland and our allies. A breakout and reestablishment of ISIS is a major threat to the U.S. and our friends. Obama and Biden got this wrong big time, requiring President Trump to clean up their mess.”

Also: Biden also spoke about U.S. efforts to bring Austin Tice home. Tice — an American Marine turned journalist — was kidnapped in 2012 while reporting in Syria. His mother said on Friday, “He is being cared for and he is well — we do know that.”

Read More: President Biden’s remarks on Syria via X

Family of Houston journalist Austin Tice presses White House to intervene for his release from Syria (Houston Public Media)