US accepts Assad staying in Syria — but won’t give aid
▻https://www.france24.com/en/20181217-us-accepts-assad-staying-syria-but-wont-give-aid
Washington (AFP)
The United States said Monday it was no longer seeking to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad but renewed warnings it would not fund reconstruction unless the regime is “fundamentally different.”
James Jeffrey, the US special representative in Syria, said that Assad needed to compromise as he had not yet won the brutal seven-year civil war, estimating that some 100,000 armed opposition fighters remained in Syria.
“We want to see a regime that is fundamentally different. It’s not regime change — we’re not trying to get rid of Assad,” Jeffrey said at the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank.