Speaking Monday with China’s Phoenix Television, Assad accused Washington of backing “terrorists” in Syria and of exploiting oil fields the Pentagon is occupying in the country’s east. He warned that Syrian groups outside of the government’s command would eventually be persuaded to reconcile with Damascus, meaning “it’s only natural that there will be no prospect for an American presence.”
“However, if they remained, they have their experience in Iraq to consider: There will be a popular resistance, and they will pay the price,” Assad said.
“Ultimately, the Americans will leave,” he added.
The 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq toppled longtime leader Saddam Hussein, an opponent of both the U.S. and Damascus, but led to an instability that would reshape the region’s geopolitical fault lines. Both Sunni Muslim militant groups and Shiite Muslim militias took advantage of the subsequent power vacuum and began targeting the U.S. military as they pursued rival agendas in Iraq.
The U.S. would lose over 4,400 soldiers in Iraq, eventually withdrawing in 2011 but that same year endorsing a rebellion in Syria. In 2014, the U.S. formed an international coalition to battle the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) in both countries, where the jihadis now retain only marginal power and influence.
Yet the Pentagon’s anti-ISIS mission continues, and no tangible plans for withdrawal exist. Assad has long called for the U.S. to pull out, considering it an occupying force as he waged his anti-insurgency campaign, which was backed by Russia and Iran and widely accused of war crimes. In Iraq, renewed unrest has begun to raise concerns about the presence of foreign powers.
Repeated rocket attacks have struck positions associated with the U.S. military in Iraq. The Pentagon has laid the blame on Iran-backed, mostly Shiite Muslim militias that helped lead the anti-ISIS fight but also opposed the U.S. presence in the country and have been accused of causing over 600 U.S. casualties during the Iraq War.
On Monday, the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi released a readout of a call between the leader and U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who “expressed his concern that some installations were subjected to strikes, and a necessity to take measures to stop that.” For his part, Abdul-Mahdi “expressed his concern for those developments, demanding everyone make a serious effort to prevent an escalation that would threaten all parties, and that any weakening of Iraqi government and state would encourage escalation and chaos.”
The Iraqi premier, who resigned late last month amid major protests but remains in power as caretaker, “also warned that taking unilateral decisions will have negative reactions that are difficult to control and threaten the security, sovereignty and independence of Iraq.”
The exchange followed a December 13 statement issued by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who also condemned the rocket strikes and warned Iranian officials “that any attacks by them, or their proxies of any identity, that harm Americans, our allies, or our interests will be answered with a decisive U.S. response.”
While Baghdad continues to work closely with both Washington and Tehran, the U.S. and Syrian governments maintained no formal ties. The Pentagon has instead partnered there with a mostly Kurdish militia known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, which hold up to a third of the country.
Turkey, however, sees the main Syrian Kurdish group, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), as an extension of outlawed separatists and has launched cross-border operations against it in the north, leading the U.S. to instead focus on maintaining control of oil fields in the east. The Syrian Democratic Forces support this U.S.-led mission but at the same time are coordinating with Assad’s administration in other parts of the country as both attempt to resist the Turkey-led invasion.
Though clashes have occurred in past years, U.S. personnel and members of the pro-Syrian government faction have so far sought to mostly avoid each other as they waged rival campaigns.
