美国总统乔·拜登在与国家安全团队会面后，于周日下午向全国发表讲话，称叙利亚总统巴沙尔·阿萨德“令人憎恶的”政权的倒台是“长期遭受苦难的叙利亚人民的历史性机遇”
“阿萨德政权终于倒台了，”拜登说。"这个政权残酷对待、折磨并杀害了成千上万无辜的叙利亚人。"
与此同时，拜登补充说，这“也是一个充满风险和不确定性的时刻”，他说，如果出现任何威胁，美国将“支持叙利亚的邻国，包括约旦、黎巴嫩、伊拉克和以色列。”
他还表示，美国“关注”在叙利亚的美国人的安全，包括美国自由记者和海军陆战队老兵奥斯汀·泰斯他于2012年在叙利亚报道时被绑架。拜登表示，将“继续致力于让(泰斯)回到家人身边。”
拜登说:“这是一个充满相当大风险和不确定性的时刻。”。“但我也相信，这是几十年来叙利亚人在没有反对派的情况下打造自己未来的最好机会。”
当选总统唐纳德·特朗普早些时候称这种情况为叙利亚一片“混乱”,并强烈反对美国卷入这场冲突。
“无论如何，叙利亚是个烂摊子，但不是我们的朋友，&美国应该没什么关系。这不是我们的战斗。让它发挥出来。不要卷进来!”特朗普在一篇文章中写道在X上发布.
周六，白宫国家安全委员会发言人肖恩·萨维特(Sean Savett)表示，美国“与这场由指定恐怖组织Hay'at Tahir al-Sham (HTS)领导的攻势无关”，并表示美国将与其盟友和伙伴合作，敦促降级并保护美国人员和军事阵地。
美国国家安全顾问杰克·沙利文(Jake Sullivan)周六在反政府武装挺进大马士革之前的一次国防会议上说，反政府武装快速推进的速度和规模在一定程度上是因为阿萨德的主要支持者伊朗、俄罗斯和真主党在最近几个月都“被削弱和分散了注意力”。
沙利文说，这使得阿萨德“基本上是赤裸裸的”。"他的力量被掏空了。"
美国国务卿安东尼·布林肯周日晚间在一份声明中表示，阿萨德政权的倒台意味着“叙利亚人民终于有理由抱有希望”
布林肯说:“美国强烈支持通过一个由叙利亚人主导的包容性进程，将权力和平移交给一个负责任的叙利亚政府。”。“在这个过渡时期，叙利亚人民完全有权要求保留国家机构，恢复关键服务，保护弱势群体。”
周日早些时候，伊斯兰组织Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group(HTS)的叛军军事行动指挥部声称，总统已不在首都，并写道:“我们宣布大马士革市摆脱了暴君巴沙尔·阿萨德。”
这俄罗斯外交部表示周日早上，阿萨德“决定离开总统职位，离开这个国家，指示和平移交权力。”俄罗斯和伊朗是阿萨德政府最重要的两个外国支持者。
特朗普表示，长期支持阿萨德政权的俄罗斯“被束缚在乌克兰”，显然无法干预叙利亚，并表示阿萨德被迫下台“实际上可能是俄罗斯政府能够发生的最好的事情”。
“应该立即停火，并开始谈判。太多的生命被无谓地浪费，太多的家庭被摧毁，如果这种情况继续下去，可能会变得更大，更糟糕，”特朗普说。
在接受美国广播公司新闻采访时，特朗普第一任期内领导美国中央司令部的退役海军陆战队将军弗兰克·麦肯齐(Frank McKenzie)同意当选总统的评估，即局势可能会引发混乱。
“我不确定这对叙利亚人民来说最终会是好消息，”麦肯齐告诉《本周》的联合主持人玛莎·拉达兹。“你知道，我们可能会有一个伊斯兰国家在那里崛起，这将对整个地区产生深远的负面影响。这是可能的。也有其他的可能性。我认为在接下来的48、72、96小时内，我们——这将开始变得更加清晰。”
“这是叙利亚历史上的一个重要时刻，”麦肯齐补充道。“我希望我能更有希望，这对叙利亚人民来说是个好消息。我认为这一点现在还不清楚。”
当被问及驻扎在叙利亚东部遏制“伊斯兰国”的900名美国军事人员的安全时，麦肯齐说，阿萨德的倒台可能会让他们处于更好的境地。
他说:“实际上，现在的危险可能比以前小，因为你看到的是伊朗人、黎巴嫩真主党人，事实上，由于叙利亚刚刚发生的事情，俄罗斯人现在都在紧追不舍。”。
阿萨德政权的垮台标志着24年统治的结束，他在2000年继承了父亲哈菲兹·阿萨德的王位。阿萨德家族自1971年以来一直统治着叙利亚。
阿萨德见证了叙利亚在2011年滑入残酷的内战。随着阿拉伯之春席卷该地区，他的安全部队试图镇压要求民主改革的大规模抗议运动。僵局演变成一场血腥的内战，在政治、种族和宗教上分裂了这个国家。
混乱让“伊斯兰国”在伊叙边境地区崛起，并夺取了黎凡特地区的大片领土。这场冲突也成为了一个代理战场，吸引了包括美国、俄罗斯、伊朗、以色列和海湾国家在内的主要世界大国。
联合国估计，到2022年底，叙利亚约有307，000名平民死亡，1200万人(占该国2011年约2200万人口的一半以上)被迫离开家园，截至2022年底，约有540万人仍然活着。
Biden says fall of Assad regime in Syria is a 'historic opportunity'
President Joe Biden addressed the nation Sunday afternoon after meeting with his national security team, calling the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's "abhorrent" regime a "historic opportunity for the long-suffering people of Syria."
"At long last, the Assad regime has fallen," Biden said. "This regime brutalized, tortured and killed literally hundreds of thousands of innocent Syrians."
At the same time, it's "also a moment of risk and uncertainty," Biden added, saying that the U.S. would "support Syria's neighbors, including Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Israel, should any threat arise."
He also said the U.S. is "mindful" of the security of Americans in Syria, including American freelance journalist and Marine Corps veteranAustin Tice, who was kidnapped while reporting in Syria in 2012. Biden said it will "remain committed to returning [Tice] to his family."
"This is a moment of considerable risk and uncertainty," Biden said. "But I also believe this is the best opportunity in generations for Syrians to forge their own future free of opposition."
President-elect Donald Trump had earlier called the situation inSyriaa "mess" and urged against the U.S. getting involved in the conflict.
"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!" Trump wrote in apost on X.
On Saturday, White House National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said the U.S. "has nothing to do with this offensive, which is led by Hay’at Tahir al-Sham (HTS), a designated terrorist organization," and said that the U.S. would work together with its allies and partners to urge deescalation and to protect U.S. personnel and military positions.
Speaking at a defense conference Saturday, before rebels advanced into Damascus, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the speed and scale of the rebels' rapid advance came, in part, because Assad's chief backers -- Iran, Russia and Hezbollah -- had all been "weakened and distracted," in recent months.
That has left Assad "basically naked," Sullivan said. "His forces are hollowed out."
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Sunday evening that the fall of Assad's regime means "the Syrian people finally have reason for hope."
"The United States strongly supports a peaceful transition of power to an accountable Syrian government through an inclusive Syrian-led process," Blinken said. "During this transitional period, the Syrian people have every right to demand the preservation of state institutions, the resumption of key services, and the protection of vulnerable communities."
Early Sunday, the rebel military operations command for the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, or HTS, claimed the president was no longer in the capital, writing: "We declare the city of Damascus free of the tyrant Bashar al-Assad."
TheRussian Foreign Ministry saidSunday morning that Assad "decided to leave the presidential post and left the country, giving instructions to transfer power peacefully." Russia and Iran were the two most important foreign backers of Assad's government.
Trump said Russia, which has long supported Assad's regime, is "tied up in Ukraine" and apparently unable to intervene in Syria, and said Assad being forced out "may actually be the best thing that can happen" to the Russian government.
"There should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin. Too many lives are being so needlessly wasted, too many families destroyed, and if it keeps going, it can turn into something much bigger, and far worse," Trump said.
In an interview with ABC News, retired Marine Corps Gen. Frank McKenzie, who led the U.S. Central Command during Trump's first term, agreed with the president-elect's assessment that the situation could spell chaos.
"I’m not sure it's ultimately going to be good news for the people of Syria," McKenzie told "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz. "You know, we could have an Islamic State arise there which will have profound negative implications across the region. That is possible. There are other possibilities as well. And I think in the next 48, 72, 96 hours, we -- this will begin to become clearer to us."
"It's a significant moment in Syrian history," McKenzie added. "I wish I could be more hopeful that it will mean good news for the Syrian people. I think that's very unclear right now."
Asked about the safety of the 900 U.S. military members stationed in eastern Syria to contain ISIS, McKenzie said Assad's fall could put them in a better place.
"Actually, there's probably less danger right now than there was before, because what you see are the Iranians, Lebanese Hezbollah and, in fact, the Russians are all on their back heels now as a result of what has just happened in Syria," he said.
The regime's collapse marks an end to a 24-year reign, Assad having succeeded his father Hafez al-Assad in 2000. The Assad family had ruled Syria since 1971.
Assad oversaw Syria's slide into brutal civil war in 2011. His security forces sought to crush a mass protest movement demanding democratic reforms as the Arab Spring buffeted the region. The standoff devolved into a bloody civil war that split the nation on political, ethnic and religious lines.
The chaos allowed ISIS to rise in the Iraq-Syria border region and seize swaths of territory in the Levant region. The conflict also became a proxy battleground drawing in major world powers including the U.S., Russia, Iran, Israel and the Gulf states.
The United Nations estimated some 307,000 civilian dead in Syria by the end of 2022, with 12 million people -- more than half of the country's 2011 population of around 22 million -- forced from their homes, approximately 5.4 million of whom were still living as of late 2022.
