US Won't Be Satisfied Until Seeing Stable Syria Without Assad - Envoy

The US envoy to the UN has reiterated Washington's years-long goal regarding Syria.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The United States will not be satisfied until Syrian President Bashar Assad is removed from power, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Friday.

"I think we're not going to be satisfied until we see a solid and stable Syria, and that is not with Assad in place," Haley told reporters at a White House press briefing.

President Donald Trump's administration has several time changed its views and rhetoric regarding the Syrian president. During his election campaign and first months in office, the US president said that not Assad's ousting, but the fight against terrorism should be the priority.

However, after the alleged chemical attack in the Idlib province the West blames on the Syrian government forces, the US president called Assad "an animal" and ordered a massive missile strike on a military airfield in the country. Since then, Washington's mixed signals concerning the future of the Syrian president continued.

Damascus has repeatedly said that it has never used and won't use chemical weapons against civilians, emphasizing that it has no chemical weapons since 2014 due to an agreement the US was part of.