WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Tuesday that the Trump administration prefers using a political process for changing the Syrian government but sees no further role for President Bashar al-Assad.

“In terms of the future of Bashar al-Assad, it is important to us that we undertake a political process that leads to the final conclusion of how Syria will be governed,” he said.

A transcript of his remarks, released by that the State Department in Washington, gives the first comprehensive insight into how the Trump administration wants to deal with the Syrian crisis and also reflects its desire to maintain a cordial relationship with Russia, despite differences over Syria.

The transcript quoted Mr Tillerson as telling a news conference in Lucca, Italy, that the United States favoured “a unified Syria,” governed by its people, but without its present leader.

“It is clear to all of us that the reign of the Assad family is coming to an end; but the question of how that ends and the transition itself could be very important,” he said.

“That’s why we are not presupposing how that occurs, but I think it is clear that we see no further role for the Assad regime.”

Mr Tillerson also advised the Russian government to realise that “they have aligned themselves with an unreliable partner in Bashar al-Assad.”

He reminded Moscow that the Syrian leader pledged to them to destroy all chemical weapons but did not, making “the Russians look not so good under these circumstances.”

Noting that Russia had aligned itself with the Assad regime, the Iranians, and Hezbollah, Secretary Tillerson asked: “Is that a long-term alliance that serves Russia’s interest, or would Russia prefer to realign with the United States, with other Western countries and Middle East countries who are seeking to resolve the Syrian crisis?”

He said that the United States wanted to create a future for Syria that’s stable and secure. “And so, Russia can be a part of that future and play an important role, or Russia can maintain its alliance with this group, which we believe is not going to serve Russia’s interest longer-term.”

Explaining why the United States carried out a cruise-missile attack on a Syrian airfield last week, Mr Tillerson said Washington will “not accept the normalisation of the use of chemical weapons by (non-state) actors or countries, in Syria or elsewhere.”

On April 6, US warships fired 49 cruise missiles at Shayrat airfield in Syria, signalling the Trump administration’s willingness to use its military might in the Middle East.

The United States had warned Russia before the April 6 attack to remove its military personnel from the Syrian base and on Tuesday a senior administration official said Washington was not sure if Russia knew the regime had plans to use chemical weapons against its citizens.

“At this time, there is no US Intelligence Community consensus that Russia had foreknowledge of the Syrian chemical attack,” the official told reporters in Washington.

Published in Dawn, April 12th, 2017