Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Sunday said the Trump administration’s top priority in respect to Syria is decimating the Islamic State before deciding how to dismantle Bashar Assad’s regime.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Sunday said the Trump administration’s top priority in respect to Syria is decimating the Islamic State before deciding how to dismantle Bashar Assad’s regime.
“We believe that the first priority is the defeat of ISIS. That by defeating ISIS and removing their caliphate from their control, we’ve now eliminated at least – or minimized a particular threat not just to the United States, but to the whole stability in the region,” Tillerson told CBS “Face the Nation” host John Dickerson.
“And once the ISIS threat has been reduced or eliminated, I think we can turn our attention directly to stabilizing the situation in Syria. We’re hopeful that we can prevent a continuation of the civil war and that we can bring the parties to the table to begin the process of political discussions,” Tillerson added.