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US President-elect Donald Trump has described the overthrow of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad as a “hostile takeover” by Turkiye, who had aligned himself with several of the opposition groups that led the lightning offensive. over Damascus.
Trump made the comments – in apparent praise of Ankara – during a wide-ranging press conference on Monday at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. His comments offered a window into his foreign and domestic policy weeks before his return to the White House on January 20.
“I think Türkiye is very smart…Türkiye took power in a hostile manner without many lives being lost. “I can say Assad was a butcher, what he did to the children,” Trump said, referring to the Dec. 8 overthrow of the veteran Syrian leader.
Al-Assad’s forced departure came after a surprise offensive across the country by rebel groups, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had long opposed al-Assad’s government and supported the opposition group Syrian National Army (SNA), based in northwest Syria.
Trump had previously weighed in on the conflict, saying “it’s not our fight.”
During his first term, he had attempted to withdraw about 900 US troops stationed in Syria in advisory roles for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed opposition group, but resigned due to pressure from allies concerned about the resurgence of ISIL (ISIS).
Trump demurred Monday when asked if he would withdraw U.S. forces.
He said “no one knows” what the future holds for Syria, which has been at war since 2011.
However, he added that he believes “Türkiye will hold the key” to the nation.
Ankara has largely supported the opposition offensive, but the full extent of its support for groups like HTS remains unclear. The SNA has continued to fight the predominantly Kurdish SDF since the fall of al-Assad.
Trump on Gaza
Staying with the Middle East, Trump also said he “had a very good conversation” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and said they discussed efforts to negotiate the release of captives held in Gaza before he takes office.
Those talks have long been stalled, with critics accusing Netanyahu of blocking progress under the current administration of US President Joe Biden.
“I warned that if these hostages are not home by then, all hell will break loose,” Trump said, repeating an earlier threat he made on social media about releasing Israeli captives in Gaza in exchange for a ceasefire.
“It was mostly a wrap-up call,” Trump added of his conversation with Netanyahu.
He did not say when he spoke with the prime minister, but Netanyahu’s office said the two men spoke on Saturday.
Russia-Ukraine
On the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Trump deflected when asked about conversations he may have had with Russian President Vladimir Putin since he won the election in November.
He later said he planned to speak with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump has repeatedly promised to quickly end the war, but statements from his allies have raised concerns that he will pressure Ukraine to cede territory to Russia.
“We will talk to President Putin and we will talk to representatives, Zelenskyy and representatives of Ukraine. We have to stop it. “It’s carnage,” Trump said.
“It’s just rubble,” Trump said of cities destroyed by fighting. “Just like when I tear down a building in Manhattan, which is actually worse, because we do it step by step.”
on tiktok
Trump also weighed in on an impending federal ban on the China-based social media platform TikTok. The US Congress passed a law in 2023 that said the popular social media platform had to cut its ties with its China-based parent company or be banned in the United States by mid-January.
Without going into details, Trump credited the platform, popular among young and less politically engaged Americans, with helping him win the election. He said he would review the pending ban.
“We’ll take a look at TikTok,” he said. “You know, I have a warm place in my heart for TikTok.”
Drone sightings
On the home front, Trump weighed in on a series of reports of drone sightings in the eastern United States.
Federal law enforcement officials have said that most of the sightings are believed to be from manned aircraft flying regular routes and that there did not appear to be a threat to national security.
Trump called for more transparency.
“The government knows what’s going on,” Trump said. “For some reason, they don’t want to comment. And I think it would be better if they said what our military and our president know.”
He added: “I can’t imagine it’s the enemy,” without elaborating.
Controversial health choice
Trump also took time to defend his pick for health secretary, prominent vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The political scion will meet with legislators this week to reinforce support for his appointment, which must be approved by the Senate.
Over the weekend, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who had polio as a child, spoke out in defense of the polio vaccine after a recent report revealed that one of Kennedy’s advisers filed a petition to repeal the approval of the polio vaccine in 2022.
Trump said he remained a “big believer” in the polio vaccine and would preserve access to it.
“We are not going to lose the polio vaccine,” he said. “That’s not going to happen.”
“He’s going to be a lot less radical than you might think,” Trump said of Kennedy.
“I think he’s very open-minded, otherwise he wouldn’t have put it there.”
