HADERA, Israel — President-elect Donald Trump on Monday claimed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was behind the rapid fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria last week, as Israeli officials cautioned the US to keep a watchful eye on the Sunni authoritarian leader.
Speaking to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort, Trump declared that the “very smart” Erdogan directed the rebellion that led to the overthrow of Syria’s brutal Assad regime on Dec. 8, noting that the rebellion was “another way to fight.”
”Nobody knows who the other side is, but I do. You know it is Turkey, OK? Turkey is the one behind it,” he said. “And those people that went in are controlled by Turkey, and that’s OK.”
Asked whether Trump would remove the 900 American troops currently in Syria when he takes office next month, the president-elect reminded journalists that “nobody knows what the final outcome is going to be in the region.”
”I don’t think that I want to have our soldiers killed, but I don’t think that will happen now anyway, because the one [Assad regime] side has been decimated,” Trump said.
“I think Turkey is very smart. [Erdogan] is a very smart guy, he’s very tough,” Trump said, “but Turkey did an unfriendly takeover without a lot of lives being lost.”
While the overthrow of the Assad regime was generally welcomed by the Western world, Israeli officials on Monday warned the US against celebrating the presumed ascension of Turkish power in Syria.
Israel’s military is currently fighting to eliminate weapons depots in southern Syria to stabilize the region and protect its citizens near its border with the Islamic country, analysts have said.
“Erdogan is a disciple of the Muslim Brotherhood. He is an Islamist radical in Turkey. He is behind Syria’s rebels that came from al Qaeda, from Daesh, from other very radical groups,” Israeli scholar and former Knesset member Ruth Wasserman Lande told The Post in Israel on Monday.
However, Turkey is a member of the NATO security alliance, which could mean the US and other allies could hold some influence over the nation.
“Turkey, with Erdogan at the helm, is supportive of Hamas and supportive of the Muslim Brotherhood, which are the same thing,” she said. “And now the entire Syrian gang is going to be governed by rebels who also are supported by Turkey and support Hamas.”
Wasserman Lande added that the distinction “is an important connection to make,” especially as the incoming Trump administration intends to support Israel in its fight against terror groups in the region.
”These are not disconnected arenas, and the United States needs to put a huge vigilant watch on Erdogan, particularly because he’s a member of NATO,” she also said.
