Trump labels Turkey-backed rebel ousting of Assad as 'unfriendly takeover'

Assad fled to Russia after an HTS-led offensive seized cities, culminating in the rebels capturing the Syrian capital

President-elect Donald Trump characterized the rebel ouster of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad by Ankara-backed rebels as an “unfriendly takeover” by US ally Turkey as he addressed the conflict at a news conference Monday.

“I think Turkey is very smart… Turkey did an unfriendly takeover, without a lot of lives being lost. I can say that Assad was a butcher, what he did to children,” Trump told reporters at his residence in Florida.

Assad fled to Russia after a lightning offensive spearheaded by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) wrested city after city from his control until the rebels reached the Syrian capital.

The collapse of his rule stunned the world and sparked celebrations around Syria and beyond, after his crackdown on democracy protests in 2011 triggered one of the deadliest wars of the century.

Rooted in Syria’s branch of Al-Qaeda, HTS is proscribed by several Western governments as a terrorist organization, though it has sought to moderate its rhetoric and pledged to protect the country’s religious minorities.

Turkey has carried out military strikes inside Syria, and has said it is ready to provide armed support to the country’s new government set up by the rebels.

Ankara’s top priority in Syria was to rid the country of Kurdish separatist fighters – a goal supported by the new government, it has said.