US Anti-Assad Stance Causes 'Dangerous Confrontation' With Russia

The US has focused on removing Syrian President Bashar Assad from power instead of pursuing the vital goal of defeating Daesh, a US congresswoman said.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The United States has focused on removing Syrian President Bashar Assad from power instead of pursuing the vital goal of defeating Islamic State (IS, or in Arabic Daesh), a group outlawed in Russia and many other countries, which has caused tensions with Russia, US House of Representatives member Tulsi Gabbard said Wednesday.

"Our mission must be to dedicate our resources in executing a strong and decisive strategy to defeat ISIS [Daesh] rather than <…> overthrowing the Syrian government of Assad <…> that has now put us in a far more dangerous position, putting us directly at odds with Russia <…> creating a great potential for head to head conflict, a world war and a nuclear conflict with US and Russia," the Hawaii representative told CNN.

US actions in Iraq, Libya and Syria have resulted in an increased extremist presence in these countries, Gabbard said. Turkey has not stood with the US against Daesh, she added, stressing that Turkey's primary aim was to undermine Kurdish forces, which have been effective in fighting IS.

Gabbard has been a staunch critic of President Barack Obama's policy on Syria. The United States insists on removing Assad from power as a prerequisite for a political solution to the Syrian crisis. Russia, in turn, has stated that Syria's fate must not be decided through outside interference.

The participants in the Syria peace talks in Vienna, last held on November 14, agreed to the upholding of the 2012 Geneva communique on reaching a political solution to the Syrian civil war. Both Russia and the United States attended the talks.