Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Thursday that the U.S. seeks to remove Bashar Assad as Syria's president through "a political process," not through war despite reports to the contrary.



"The process by which Assad would leave is something that I think requires an international community effort, both to first defeat ISIS within Syria, to stabilize the Syrian country, to avoid further civil war, and then to work collectively with our partners around the world through a political process that would lead to Assad leaving," Tillerson said.



"Those steps are underway," he added.