Syria won’t be on top of Trump’s agenda: Former ambassador

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Zalmay Khalilzad, former US ambassador to Iraq and Afghanistan, said on Saturday that Syria will be on President-elect Donald Trump's agenda when he takes office, but it will not be his main focus despite the rapid changes happening in the region.

"Of course it will have to reflect his preferences, his desires, but also the realities of the region. And at the present time, the key issues are what to do about Gaza and the Israeli war there," Khalilzad told Rudaw's Nwenar Fatih on the sidelines of Doha Forum.

"I think he would want to focus on that, hostages must be released. He has already made that point, and the war must end" he added.

Trump said on Saturday that the conflict in Syria is not America’s fight and it should not get involved.

“In any event, Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & the United States should have nothing to do with it. This is not our fight. Let it play out. Do not get involved,” he said in a message on Truth Social.

Syria’s civil war dramatically reignited late last month when a coalition of rebels led by the Islamist Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched a blistering offensive against the Syrian army. They ousted Bashar al-Assad on Sunday. 

“He hasn't articulated a policy other than that he doesn't want to get involved in endless wars in the Middle East, and the US has forces there, so the security of US forces in Syria will be primary, but the US would have a role to decide or help Syria avoid a civil war and to have a transition to a new regime in Syria that keeps the peace and can work for Syrians,” Khalilzad  said. 

The US has around 900 troops in Syria, mainly helping Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS).