US envoy: Removing Syrian President al-Assad from power a priority
The United States government has made the removal of Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, as one of its priorities. US Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, announced that a regime change in Syria is inevitable.
Haley, on her talk with CNN, made it clear that removing Assad as Syria's President is one of US government's priorities. "Getting Assad out is not the only priority," the US ambassador told news anchor Jake Tapper. "So what we're trying to do is obviously defeat ISIS. Secondly, we don't see a peaceful Syria with Assad in there. Thirdly, get the Iranian influence out."
The news came two days after the US called for a launched military strike on a Syrian airbase as a response to a chemical attack that happened on Tuesday, April 4, at the town of Khan Sheikhoun. It was reported that 89 people were killed during the chemical attack which is widely blamed on the Assad regime.
US President Donald Trump ordered to launch 59 Tomahawk missiles from two US Navy Destroyer ships, USS Porter and USS Ross, in the East Mediterranean Sea on Friday, April 7, according to the Pentagon press release. The attack targeted aircraft, shelters, air defense systems, ammunition supply bunkers and storage areas that are located in the Syrian government-controlled facility.
The attack carried by the US government will deter the Assad regime from using chemical weapons again on its land, the press release continued to note. The government took measures to minimize the risk of the attack for both Russian and Syrian personnel who were at the airfield at the time of the missile launch.
Syrian's Armed Forces General Command said on a televised statement that six people were killed by the US missile attack, CNN reported. Assad's office, on Friday, called the US government's action as "a disgraceful act" that "can only be described as short-sighted."
