From the Liveblog of
Sunday, April 9, 2017
US national security adviser says efforts to oust IS, Assad ‘simultaneous’
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GooglePresident Donald Trump’s national security adviser is describing US goals to defeat the Islamic State group as well as oust Syrian President Bashar Assad as somewhat “simultaneous.”
H.R. McMaster tells Fox News there is no contradiction between comments by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who says IS must be defeated first, and Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations who contends that getting Assad out is a priority.
McMaster says “there has to be a degree of simultaneous activity as well as sequencing of the defeat of IS first.”
He says Trump’s missile strike was meant as a “very strong signal to Assad and his sponsors” that the U.S. will not stand idly by, and that Russia should now reconsider support for the “murderous regime.”
— AP
The Times of Israel Community.