Background Press Call by a Senior Administration Official on the Situation in Syria

Via Teleconference

2:30 P.M. EST

MODERATOR: This call is on background, attributable to a senior administration official. Contents of the call are embargoed until the conclusion of the call. And you can queue yourself up for questions by using the "Raise Your Hand" feature.

For your awareness, not for your reporting, the official on the line today is [senior administration official]. He'll have a few words for you at the top, and then we'll take your questions.

With that, over to you.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Hey, thanks. And thanks, everybody, for joining.

So, the collapse of the Assad regime is a momentous event and it's a historic landmark event, and we wanted to take the opportunity to just provide some additional background after the President's remarks, which you all should have seen. And then we're happy to take a few questions.

Before we do that, we just want to make clear up front: This is a day for Syrians, about Syrians. It's not about the United States or anyone else. It's about the people of Syria who now have a chance to build a new country, free of the oppression and corruption of the Assad family and decades of misrule. We owe them support as they do so, and we are prepared to provide it. But the future of Syria, like the fall of Assad today, will be written by Syrians for Syrians.

Now, as the President stated, the fall of this regime is also a fundamental act of justice. It's a moment of justice for the victims of this regime and a moment of historic opportunity for the long-suffering people of Syria, and also, of course, a moment of risk and uncertainty, as he discussed.

Let me walk through just some of what has transpired.

First, as the President emphasized today, it is impossible not to place this week's events in the context of the decisions the President has made to fully back Israel against Iran and its proxy terrorist groups, including Hezbollah, and Ukraine against Russia. In fact, in speaking with the President today in the Oval Office, we noted you can really draw a line from the fateful decisions that we made, and that Iran made in the days after October 7th, to today.

I think if you just go back, for example, to the President's Oval Office address to the American people on October 20th, 2023, where he made the case to the American people to support these two close friends under attack -- wars that they did not ask for, they did not start -- but we were determined to support those friends in their hours of need, and we have done so. We built bipartisan majorities in Congress to do just that. That support is ongoing. It is continuous to this day for both Israel and Ukraine.

And I think the results here speak for themselves. Hamas is on its back; its leaders are dead. Iran is on its back. Hezbollah is on its back. Russia is on its back. It's just abandoned its only ally in the Middle East. Now, the Assad regime, Russia and Iran's main ally in the Middle East, has just collapsed.

None of this would have been possible absent the direct support for Ukraine and Russia in their own defense provided by the United States of America. And the direct defense of Israel against Iran, as the President noted, and the relentless pressure that has been applied -- military, economic, diplomatic -- are all in combination.

Now, since the situation broke out one week ago and following the Lebanon ceasefire and the rebel advance in Syria, just to kind of provide a bit from behind the scenes, we have been working constantly, 24/7, with our contacts on the ground in Syria, with our regional partners, keeping the President fully briefed and informed throughout. We've worked to encourage Iraq in particular to stay out of it, not get drawn into this, as well as communicating constantly with Lebanon, Israel, Turkey, Jordan, Iraq, and everybody in the region.

The collapse of the regime came when the citizens of Syria made clear they would not band with the army and the regime. Russia and Iran made clear they would no longer support Assad, and there were no reinforcements coming from anywhere. Assad was effectively abandoned because his only friends -- again, Iran, Hezbollah, and Russia -- no longer had the capacity to help.

This result also, we believe, reflects a clear and principled policy towards Syria which has further contributed to Assad's weakness over the last four years. I can talk about that briefly and then some of our actions moving forward. I think the President laid this out.

But we've made clear throughout that the sanctions on the Assad regime, which have been put on the Assad regime over a period of years and over the last four years, the only way that that sanctions policy would change is if Assad engaged seriously in a political process to end the civil war, as outlined in U.N. Security Council Resolution 2254. He never did so. And we carried out a comprehensive sanctions program against him and all those responsible for atrocities against the Syrian people. I think the designations are in the seven hundreds or so. We can get you all of those facts.

We maintained our military presence in Syria to counter ISIS and to support our local partners on the ground, the Syrian Democratic Forces. We never ceded an inch of territory. We've taken out the leaders of ISIS, including a caliphate of ISIS, ensuring that ISIS can never reestablish a safe haven there.

I think an example of that is just, today, the President's authorization. We targeted a significant gathering of ISIS fighters and leaders -- I think 75 targets in all -- and about 140 munitions dropped on that site. That just happened a couple hours ago. And I think CENTCOM has a release on that that should be out now.

We supported Israel's freedom of action against Iranian networks in Syria and against actors aligned with Iran who transported lethal aid to partners to Lebanon. That is something that went on all through the last four years. And when necessary, we authorized and used U.S. military forces against those Iranian networks to protect U.S. forces, all without getting drawn into a broader Middle East conflict.

Looking forward, we will be supporting Syria's neighbors -- Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Israel -- from any threats from Syria during this important period of transition. The President will be speaking with leaders in the region here over the course of the coming days. Senior administration officials will be in the region.

We will be maintaining the mission against ISIS, helping ensure stability in east Syria; protecting our personnel from any threats; but most importantly, engaging with all Syrian groups to establish, and help wherever we can, a transition away from the Assad regime towards an independent, sovereign Syria that can serve the interests of all Syrians under the rule of law, protecting a rich diversity and tapestry of Syrian society -- all the ethnicities, religions, minority groups. And we'll continue our massive efforts of providing humanitarian relief for the Syrian people, something that has also been ongoing over the last four years.

As the President mentioned, obviously there are American citizens in Syria, and we are focused on that through our State Department. And of course, Austin Tice. He mentioned Austin Tice. I think the FBI just put out again a $1 million reward for finding Austin Tice. And we're determined to do everything we possibly can to find Austin and return him to his family.

I will also say, as these momentous events here over the last two weeks -- from the Lebanon ceasefire, now to the fall of Assad -- we're also working assiduously on the Gaza conflict and a ceasefire and the release of hostages and a number of other things, because we do believe there's a path here, given the dramatically changed balance of power in the region that the President spoke to today -- a path here to a Middle East that is far more stable, far more aligned with our interests, and far more aligned with the interests of the people of the Middle East who want to live in peace, without wars, and in prosperity in a region that is more integrated and prosperous and peaceful.

So that is something we continue to work on. And again, we think today's events are historic, momentous, welcomed. And we just wanted to provide some background. I'm happy to answer some questions.

MODERATOR: Thanks. First up, we'll go to Kayla Tausche.

Q: Thanks so much. I first wanted to just ask about the U.S. assessment of HTS. What is the U.S. assessment of HTS?

And when President Biden, in his remarks, called on other opposition groups to speak up, what is the intended outcome there?

And then finally, the President said U.S. officials will be traveling to the region. Can you share any more information about who and when and where? Thank you.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: So, I don't have any travel to announce, but we actually have been putting all that together. Some travel being pre-planned and now some being newly planned, and looking to have a very well-coordinated effort with different people in different places so that we can have kind of a saturated diplomatic engagement, which will be ongoing.

HTS, as you know, was designated in 2018, and we've been obviously watching very closely. I think the President mentioned today the statements of rebel leaders and what they're saying, and seeing if the statements are translated into actions on the ground. We're very much hopeful they will be.

But we will be engaging with a broad spectrum of Syrian society, opposition groups, groups on the ground in Syria, exile groups. We have broad contacts that we built up over the course of over the past decade and even beyond. And that effort will be ongoing.

We have been in deep discussions with the U.N. Envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, and, of course, all of our regional contacts.

So I think you'll see very broad-spectrum engagement.

I just want to emphasize, though: The future here will be written by Syrians. We are not coming up with a blueprint from Washington for the future of Syria. This is written by Syrians. The fall of Assad was delivered by Syrians. But I think it's very clear that the United States can provide a helping hand, and we are very much prepared to do so. And we will make judgments, again, based upon the actions and the (inaudible) of various groups.

MODERATOR: Next up, we'll go to Zeke Miller.

Q: Thanks for doing this. Just to follow up and put a finer point on that question regarding HTS: Is the U.S. going to have any direct engagement with HTS? You mentioned you're going to have engagement with all the opposition groups, specifically with HTS.

Separately, there's some reporting out there that Assad had made some last-minute efforts to kind of back-channel the U.S. to try to get out of this situation and somehow save his government. And can you confirm that or provide any more color and texture on that?

And then lastly, what is the U.S. government's assessment of Assad's chemical weapons and the level of concern that there may not be proper command and control over those? Thank you.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yeah, we did not get any serious out- -- I mean, I see these rumors all the time. We did not get any serious outreach from Assad, nor would we have considered any such outreach serious at all. I think the writing was very much on the wall here, and I think our policy and our position was quite clear.

So, some of the stories that have been out there are just not accurate. Certainly, we here did not get any such outreach. I don't think we would have taken any such thing very seriously.

On chemical weapons, something we are very focused on: Obviously, a lot of expertise in the U.S. government on this issue, and we've been concentrated on that here over the past week or so as the situation broke out, and I think we are taking very prudent measures in that regard.

On HTS, is there contact: I think it's safe to say there's contact with all Syrian groups as we work to do whatever we can to support the Syrians through a transition. But I think I'll leave it at that.

MODERATOR: Next up, we'll go to Andrea Mitchell.

Q: Hi. Thank you for doing this. In terms of the anti-ISIS forces, our forces, and some of our allied forces there, will there be efforts to protect them?

And can you give us any more clarity on -- if not the chemicals, but the missiles and rockets? And do we have some visibility on the stockpiles and where things are and how that might be addressed if it were an emergency? The Israelis are saying that they're increasing their security on the border and are concerned about the weapons -- all of the weapons.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: So, just on the east, I think we have a demonstrated record of protecting positions in the east. That's something the President, again, reaffirms; it's something we will continue to do. We think that presence is critically important for the stability of those areas and for denying the efforts of ISIS to resurge, and also for the integrity of the SDF and the groups that we work with in the east to maintain stability out there. So, we're obviously working on that.

As this unfolded here over the last eight or nine days. It's hard to count days, but I think it's been about eight days. That's been a constant effort. And I think you'll see some line shift. Just for example, as the Assad forces and Russians and some of these Iranian-backed militias just peeled out of areas, the SDF filled some of that space, some other groups filled some of that space.

We've been working on this through our people on the ground and through diplomatic channels constantly here over the last week, and we helped coordinate the safe passage of tens of thousands of civilians from western Syria into eastern Syria, something that, again, I think give tremendous credit to some of our military personnel or diplomatic personnel working these issues in real time over the last eight days.

I know a lot of it has been behind the scenes, and we have not been giving briefings as this has unfolded, but we have been, again, assiduously working on all those problems.

Just on the kind of accoutrements of the Assad regime's military arsenal, whether it's chemical weapons or anything else: Yes, we do have good fidelity on this type of thing, as do some of our partners. And I want to just assure you that we are doing everything we can to prudently ensure that those materials are either not available to anyone or are cared for. So there's a number of efforts going on in that regard, including some of our partners in the region who have been engaged. So that's something that we're very much focused on.

MODERATOR: Next up, we'll go to Steve Holland.

Q: Hey there. Just broadly, how big a surprise was this that the rebels would be able to take over Syria in the course of one week?

And when the President says Assad should be held accountable, what does he mean?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, Steve, I think it's safe to say the complete collapse of the regime, and the speed with which this has transpired, unfolded rapidly. I think if I had been on this call a week ago, and I've said this -- where we'd be in a week, I think -- and all the intel analysts I spoke to, experts believe the regime is very brittle. Russia and Iran do not have the capacity to help in the way it used to.

But the fact that the overall weakness of this entire artifice -- honestly, this entire Iranian-backed artifice in the region -- the brittleness, the weakness, the hollowing out; and I think U.S. policy is a direct contributor to this for the reasons I laid out and the President laid out -- is significant, is important, has completely changed the equation in the Middle East, and you saw that play out here over the last week.

So I don't wouldn't use the word "surprised," because when this started to break out last week, and we saw the fall of Aleppo, we started to prepare for all possible contingencies. And again, have been working on the ground a number of ways I just mentioned, and preparing for the potentiality of this moment that we saw unfold over the last 24 hours. And I think we did a lot of good work here over the last week in preparing for that.

On accountability: Look, the Assad regime, as we have always said, has always been a pillar of our policy that Assad should be held accountable for the various crimes committed against his own people. I saw the Russians have announced that they have granted him political asylum in Russia. I would refer you to the Russians for why they would want to grant political asylum for a leader whose own people have just clearly turned on him for the crimes that he has committed against his own people.

But I think the accountability question will be one that we will continue to pursue through appropriate channels.

MODERATOR: Next up, we'll go to Michael Gordon.

Q: Thank you. There have been clashes already, to some extent, in the Manbij area between Turkish-backed forces and the SDF, and fears of escalation all this could impact the U.S. counter-ISIS efforts given -- as the SDF as a partner.

My question is: What specific steps are you taking to try to defuse a clash between Turkish-backed elements and the SDF and maintain stability there?

And also, what message do you have for Jolani and the SDF, given that they have promised protection to minorities and so far appear to have kept those promises to this extent? Do you have a message to them now about whether you might engage with them in the future, what their role might be in the political process, or some incentive for them to continue to keep their promise in terms of potential U.S. support and international aid if they were to come off the (inaudible) list?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: So, first, we have been in full-spectrum engagement with the Turks. I think Lloyd Austin spoke to his counterpart today. Obviously, Bill and his counterpart. Tony. Jake. And I think those have been constructive engagements.

The focus here is a new Syria and a transition away from Assad. And building that transition away from Assad, meaning moving from an interim government structure to some sort of transitional council, ultimately to the roadmap that's outlined in 2254 -- I mean, that is our focus. That is going to take an enormous effort from everybody, and we think that should be the focus of those with an interest in building a better future in Syria. So that is our primary focus. Therefore, additional conflicts, additional fronts opening up, not in anybody's interests. And so, we've been working to defuse some of that.

But as I mentioned, I think some lines will change as various groups pull out of one area and pull into another area. Something I think we are working on, on deconflicting and deescalating as best we can. And that effort is very much ongoing.

Michael, on HTS, any messages: I just don't think I'm going to pass any messages through a press backgrounder here, but I just -- the point is, we are engaged with everybody, and we have ways to communicate with everybody, and that's exactly -- exactly what we're doing. I think, as the President noted, various leaders of rebel groups, including HTS, are saying the right things, but we will be -- the importance here: Syria is such a rich, diverse country, and there has to be a role for all minority groups, ethnic groups, and opposition groups need to work together, and commitment to the rule and everything else.

These are principles we've had when it comes to Syria over the last decade across, I think, three administrations. And so, adhering to those basic principles will be very important to us and something that we will be looking for those with powers on the ground to carry forward, we hope.

MODERATOR: Next up, we'll go to David Sanger.

Q: Thanks for doing this. So, two questions for you. First, just to follow up on your chemical weapons phrase. You said that you wanted to make sure that they couldn't do any damage. Does that include the possibility that U.S. forces would go on the ground to neutralize any chemical weapons (inaudible) or do that from the air?

And second, tell us a little bit about what you think the fate may be of the Russian bases in Syria, which, for right now, they seem to have pulled back from but we don't know if they're going to close. And similarly, what you think the chances are that this will encourage the Iranians to open a negotiation with the U.S., or, conversely, to race for the bomb.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Thanks, David. On chemical weapons, I don't think I have too much more to add. I would not envision a scenario where we have U.S. boots on the ground for such a mission. I think we have ways to take care of these things. But it is a primary focus.

I think, right now, we do not -- I think that those and the experts who really know this stuff, looking at it, are fairly confident that it is (inaudible), but we're -- this is why it is a top-tier priority of ours, and making sure that anything with those types of derivatives, which is everything from chlorine to -- you know, to far worse, as you know, is destroyed or cared for, or (inaudible).

But I don't want to talk about hypotheticals of U.S. military engagement. It's not something that's being contemplated right now.

Again, I can't speculate on Russian bases. I think it's not lost on anybody that the Russians have now announced, I think, that they've taken Assad to Moscow. So, we'll see what the Syrians who have worked for decades to overthrow the yoke of the Assad regime think about that when it comes to the Russian facilities, but I leave it to the Russians and others to speculate on that.

Look, on Iran, David, I think as I laid out at the beginning, I just think it is a significant -- again, I go back to something the President said early on. And he said, after October 7th, anyone thinking of taking advantage of this situation after the Hamas attack, don't. And Iran made the decision, after October 7th, when much of the world is reacting to horror, and horror to what had happened, they thought there might be some advantage, and they basically turned on a green light for all of its proxy groups to open a multifront war against Israel.

We made the decision that we're going to support Israel in defending itself against all of those groups, including from time to time with the use of direct military force, while also being very mindful and careful not to have the United States drawn into a broader Middle East war. That has been a fixed principle of ours now for, what, 15 months.

And if you look at where we are now, Iran has effectively lost its main proxy group, Hezbollah. Hamas has almost -- its entire military capacity has been destroyed. Iran has no strategic air defenses. Iran cannot produce missiles because of the attacks that Israel conducted about a month ago. And Israel conducted those attacks in self-defense after Iran chose to launch two historic, massive ballistic missile attacks against Israel that we helped successfully defend with the coalition of partners, as the President laid out.

So this is just a fundamental change in the equation of the entire Middle East. I think it is something that will affect Iranian calculations. Whether that is in the direction of

diplomacy, obviously we'll have to see.

And I would just say, if they ever were to make another fateful decision, such as moving towards a nuclear weapon, the United States of America will simply never allow that. And, obviously, I can speak for the Biden administration and President Biden -- that'll never happen on our watch. And I refer you to the incoming administration.

But we have had good discussions with the incoming administration on these types of issues, and I am fairly confident that they would have the same policy.

MODERATOR: We have time for a couple more questions. Next up, we'll go to Felicia Schwartz.

Q: Hi. Thank you. Just going back to HTS, you've said several times there's contact with all Syrian groups. I'm just wondering how much of a hindrance the U.S. and U.N. designations are to speaking with HTS and Jolani. And if they are, are you looking at lifting them quickly?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I mean, HTS is an umbrella organization, so I think the way that -- I'd refer you to my CT experts who've kind of done this work. But the Al-Nusra Front, which was designated I think in 2012, kind of migrated to this broad umbrella collection of groups, HTS. And then in 2018, HTS was designated.

So I think it's a broad kind of kaleidoscope of groups, and I think we have to be smart in how we deal with it, and also very mindful and pragmatic about the realities on the ground.

All we can say is that HTS is, again, saying the right things so far, doing the right thing. But they are not the only group. And there's a series of opposition groups that came, that reached Damascus from the south. They're very different. We know a lot of them.

But I think -- and I think the President spoke to this in his remarks -- we are going to be focused on supporting Syrians as they determine their own future. And that will mean a broad spectrum of Syrian groups and Syrian organizations that take part in this historic transition. HTS, obviously, will be an important component of that, and I think we will intend to engage with them appropriately and with U.S. interests in mind.

I just can't speak to the designation. Whether or not and how that would be addressed I think is something that we'll have to look to down the line. But again, I think what we'll be looking for in particular is some of the statements that have been made actually putting into action. I think that would be quite important.

MODERATOR: Last question will go to the line of Courtney Kube.

Q: Hi. Thank you. Just a couple of very clear ones. Do you believe Russia that Assad is there? Do you have any reason to believe that's not true?

Foreign terror designation by the U.S. -- are you guys going to lift it? Do you have to lift it now if, in fact, they're in charge of this country?

And then, the CENTCOM statement says that there were at least 75 strikes, or more than 75 strikes, today to degrade. And that's a huge number of strikes. Can you give us some sort of a characterization of how much that degraded ISIS's capabilities? So how much did it degrade their stockpiles, their personnel? It said it went after leadership. Did you take out any major leaders? Any more fidelity on exactly what the strikes did? Thanks.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yeah, thanks, Courtney. Look, I think I saw in the wires that Moscow has announced that they have granted asylum to Assad. So, I'll let Russia speak to that. And no reason to doubt that that's what they say they've done.

On HTS, again, I think I've answered this question a few times, so I'll leave it there.

And on the strikes: Look, ISIS has been trying to reconstitute in this broad area known as the Badiya desert, and we have worked to make sure they cannot do that. And so, when they try to gather, when they try to train -- and we see it, which we do -- we take them out. It's something we've been doing. There happened to be, over the course of today, a fairly broad gathering. And again, these are across a fairly broad area.

And I think CENTCOM, at the President's direction, and the Secretary of Defense -- you know, of course, we had an important National Security Council meeting this morning with the President and his national security team -- those strikes went forward.

Yeah, but it's a significant strike, I think just given the collection of ISIS individuals in that area and the size of the area. So, yes, 75 targets. I think 140 munitions or so. I think we had B-52s, F-15s, A-10s.

I don't have the assessment yet of the strike, but I assume, as these things go, it was quite successful and significant, because this remains -- you know, these guys want to reconstitute. They've been unable to do it. We have kept pressure on them relentlessly, month after month. I think it's been very effective. And we're going to make sure that if they think they can seize advantage in this situation, that they can't.

And whether it's HTS or other rebel groups, made very clearly they want nothing to do with ISIS. That's absolutely right. And we maintain -- we intend, very much so, to do all we can to continue that pressure and that campaign, which has been incredibly effective here over the years and will continue.

MODERATOR: Thanks, everyone. That's all the time we have for today. As a reminder, the call was on background and attributable to a senior administration official. Now that the call has concluded, the embargo is lifted.

Thanks so much for joining, and have a good rest of your day.

3:00 P.M. EST