President Biden called the recent collapse of the Assad regime in Syria “a fundamental act of justice” in remarks at the White House on Sunday.
“At long last, the Assad regime has fallen,” Biden said. “This regime brutalized and tortured and killed literally hundreds of thousands of innocent Syrians. A fall [of the regime] is a fundamental act of justice.”
“It’s a moment of historic opportunity for the long suffering people of Syria to build a better future for their proud country,” he added. “It’s also a moment of risk and uncertainty.”
Early Sunday, the Syrian government fell following the entrance of rebels into the capital of Damascus. The fall of the government marked the end of a 50-year rule of the Assad family in Syria.
The Assad regime’s end came after a 10-day offensive by rebels during which fighters made their way quickly across Syria and took large portions of what had been government-held land.
“The United States will work with our partners and the stakeholders in Syria to help them seize an opportunity to manage the risk,” the president said Sunday. He then pointed to the countries of Russia and Iran, as well as the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, calling them “the main backers” of Syrian leader Bashar Assad in recent years.
“But over the last week, their support collapsed, all three of them, because all three of them are far weaker today than they were when I took office,” Biden added, pointing to conflicts that the countries and group have been recently involved in, including those against Israel and Ukraine.
In his remarks, the president also stressed the importance for “the opposition groups who seek a role in governing Syria, to demonstrate their commitment to the rights of all Syrians, the rule of law and the protection of religious and ethnic minorities.”
