{"id":3892,"date":"2014-11-18T07:17:30","date_gmt":"2014-11-18T07:17:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/wp3\/?p=3892"},"modified":"2014-11-18T07:17:30","modified_gmt":"2014-11-18T07:17:30","slug":"obama-says-no-change-in-syria-policy-assad-still-not-priority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2014\/11\/18\/3892\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama says no change in Syria policy, Assad still not priority"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"images\/stories\/news3\/barak-obama.jpg\" border=\"0\" style=\"float: right; margin: 5px;\" \/>Despite Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto\u011flu&#8217;s recent remarks claiming that the US administration is signaling a change of policy over Syria and saying that both Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the radical Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) must go, US President Barack Obama has said his administration hasn&#8217;t changed its Syria policy and is not actively working on plans to remove Assad from power.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>  <!--more-->  <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">During a press conference in Brisbane, where the G-20 Leaders&#8217; Summit is being held, Obama on Sunday was asked whether the US is recalibrating its Syria policy and making the removal of Assad part of its strategy, even though the removal of Assad initially had not been a priority.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cCertainly, no changes have taken place with respect to our attitude towards Bashar al-Assad,\u201d said Obama.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Stressing once again that Assad has lost legitimacy in the eyes of his own people, Obama explained further why removing Assad from power is not a priority at this point:<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cFor us to then make common cause with him against ISIL would only turn more Sunnis in Syria in the direction of supporting ISIL, and would weaken our coalition that sends a message around the region this is not a fight against Sunni Islam, this is a fight against extremists of any stripe who are willing to behead innocent people or kill children, or mow down political prisoners with the kind of wanton cruelty that I think we&#8217;ve very rarely seen in the modern age.\u201d<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Obama said the US has communicated to the Syrian regime that when the US operation is going after ISIL in Syrian air space, \u201cthey would be well advised not to take the US on.\u201d<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cNow, we are looking for a political solution eventually within Syria that is inclusive of all the groups who live there &#8212; the Alawite, the Sunni, Christians. And at some point, the people of Syria and the various players involved, as well as the regional players &#8212; Turkey, Iran, Assad&#8217;s patrons like Russia &#8212; are going to have to engage in a political conversation,\u201d added Obama.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Obama stressed that the US military, diplomatic and national security team, along with the secretary of state and secretary of defense and the intelligence team are gathering weekly to assess the progress the US is making both in Iraq and Syria with respect to ISIL, but they have not had a comprehensive review of Syria.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cWe&#8217;ve had a comprehensive review of what we are doing each and every week &#8212; what&#8217;s working, what&#8217;s not. Some of it is very detailed at the tactical level. Some of it is conceptual. We continue to learn about ISIL &#8212; where its weaknesses are; how we can more effectively put pressure on them. And so nothing extraordinary, nothing formal of the sort that you describe [policy change in Syria] has taken place,\u201d said Obama.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">His remarks came after Prime Minister Davuto\u011flu told reporters on Friday that he received strong signals from the US over changing its Syria policy, after his brief meeting with Obama on the sidelines of the G-20.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Davuto\u011flu said it takes time for the US strategy to change and that there may be different views on the Syria policy within the US, but the most important is the one the US president tends to follow.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Obama also stressed that it&#8217;s the nature of diplomacy, certainly in the case of Syria, \u201cwhere you end up having diplomatic conversations potentially with people that you don&#8217;t like and regimes that you don&#8217;t like.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cBut we&#8217;re not even close to being at that stage yet,\u201d he added.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">When asked whether he is actively discussing ways to remove Assad as part of a political transition, Obama simply answered, \u201cNo.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">High-profile visits from the US<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Amid reports questioning whether Turkey is still a relevant partner for the US due to its reluctance to contribute to the US-led coalition against ISIL, US Vice President Joe Biden is expected to visit Turkey this week.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Biden is scheduled to visit Morocco, Ukraine and Turkey, according to the White House, but the exact dates of these visits have not yet been disclosed.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Before Biden&#8217;s visit, Chairman of the US Joint Chief of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey on Sunday paid a surprise visit to \u0130ncirlik Air Base in Turkey&#8217;s Adana province, which is in close proximity to ISIL targets inside Iraq and Syria. The US has been pushing Turkey to expand their access to \u0130ncirlik for launching military attacks against ISIL.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Before \u0130ncirlik, Dempsey went to Baghdad to talk with the new Iraqi administration officials, and he also visited Arbil to meet Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Massoud Barzani.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">A columnist for daily H\u00fcrriyet Tolga Tan\u0131\u015f, based in Washington, wrote on Monday that Dempsey&#8217;s visit to the region aims to look for alternatives, such as a base in Arbil for the US if Turkey is not willing to provide expanded access to \u0130ncirlik.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Iraqi Foreign Minister \u0130brahim Jaafari, who visited Ankara recently, had said that Iraq does not want foreign troops or a military base in the country, including in Arbil.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Another important guest from Washington is the American-Turkish Council (ATC) Chairman Gen. James Jones. The ATC is a leading Washington-based business association in the US that works to enhance American-Turkish ties.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Jones, along with the members of the board of directors of the ATC, will be in Ankara until Wednesday of this week.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Source: <em><strong>Todayszaman<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto\u011flu&#8217;s recent remarks claiming that the US administration is signaling a change of policy over Syria and saying that both Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the radical Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) must go, US President Barack Obama has said his administration hasn&#8217;t changed its Syria policy and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Obama says no change in Syria policy, Assad still not priority - SunniOnline<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2014\/11\/18\/3892\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Obama says no change in Syria policy, Assad still not priority - SunniOnline\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Despite Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto\u011flu&#8217;s recent remarks claiming that the US administration is signaling a change of policy over Syria and saying that both Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the radical Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) must go, US President Barack Obama has said his administration hasn&#8217;t changed its Syria policy and [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2014\/11\/18\/3892\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SunniOnline\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-11-18T07:17:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"majed\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"majed\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/18\\\/3892\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/18\\\/3892\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"majed\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/26da0e970ff572e94f1b7d9009ab39be\"},\"headline\":\"Obama says no change in Syria policy, Assad still not priority\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-11-18T07:17:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/18\\\/3892\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":929,\"commentCount\":0,\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/18\\\/3892\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/18\\\/3892\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/18\\\/3892\\\/\",\"name\":\"Obama says no change in Syria policy, Assad still not priority - SunniOnline\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-11-18T07:17:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/26da0e970ff572e94f1b7d9009ab39be\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/18\\\/3892\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/18\\\/3892\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/18\\\/3892\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Obama says no change in Syria policy, Assad still not priority\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/\",\"name\":\"SunniOnline\",\"description\":\"The Official Website of Sunni Community in Iran\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/26da0e970ff572e94f1b7d9009ab39be\",\"name\":\"majed\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d14a5567692b3eb9bd620c2cb94ec98fcf8d44e4ec418fc172b76b04163a7ee9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d14a5567692b3eb9bd620c2cb94ec98fcf8d44e4ec418fc172b76b04163a7ee9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d14a5567692b3eb9bd620c2cb94ec98fcf8d44e4ec418fc172b76b04163a7ee9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"majed\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/author\\\/majed\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Obama says no change in Syria policy, Assad still not priority - SunniOnline","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2014\/11\/18\/3892\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Obama says no change in Syria policy, Assad still not priority - SunniOnline","og_description":"Despite Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto\u011flu&#8217;s recent remarks claiming that the US administration is signaling a change of policy over Syria and saying that both Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the radical Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) must go, US President Barack Obama has said his administration hasn&#8217;t changed its Syria policy and [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2014\/11\/18\/3892\/","og_site_name":"SunniOnline","article_published_time":"2014-11-18T07:17:30+00:00","author":"majed","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"majed","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2014\/11\/18\/3892\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2014\/11\/18\/3892\/"},"author":{"name":"majed","@id":"http:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/26da0e970ff572e94f1b7d9009ab39be"},"headline":"Obama says no change in Syria policy, Assad still not priority","datePublished":"2014-11-18T07:17:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2014\/11\/18\/3892\/"},"wordCount":929,"commentCount":0,"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2014\/11\/18\/3892\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2014\/11\/18\/3892\/","url":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2014\/11\/18\/3892\/","name":"Obama says no change in Syria policy, Assad still not priority - SunniOnline","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-11-18T07:17:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/26da0e970ff572e94f1b7d9009ab39be"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2014\/11\/18\/3892\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2014\/11\/18\/3892\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2014\/11\/18\/3892\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Obama says no change in Syria policy, Assad still not priority"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/#website","url":"http:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/","name":"SunniOnline","description":"The Official Website of Sunni Community in Iran","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/26da0e970ff572e94f1b7d9009ab39be","name":"majed","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d14a5567692b3eb9bd620c2cb94ec98fcf8d44e4ec418fc172b76b04163a7ee9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d14a5567692b3eb9bd620c2cb94ec98fcf8d44e4ec418fc172b76b04163a7ee9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d14a5567692b3eb9bd620c2cb94ec98fcf8d44e4ec418fc172b76b04163a7ee9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"majed"},"url":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/author\/majed\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3892\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}