US warns against Syria sliding into civil war

WASHINGTON, Nov 13 (KUNA) -- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio cautioned that if the current Syrian government projects failed, the country could fall into "total civil war" and become a playground for terrorist groups.
The Syrian leaders "have told us what they want to do is create a national Syrian government in which every element of Syrian society is represented and feel safe," he told reporters on Thursday. "They don't want Syria to ever again be a base of operations for Iran, for ISIS, or for any of these groups. They want it to be a country, not a launching pad for attacks against their neighbors.
"And so we want to give them every chance to succeed in that regard," Secretary Rubio noted.
"The alternative is that if it doesn't work, if this doesn't happen and it collapses, then the alternative is going to be that Syria will fall into civil war, and it will become a playground for virtually every dangerous element in the Middle East, and including a return of Iran, and it'll even strengthen Hizballah. "So we don't want to see that happen, so this is the best option on the table to prevent that from happening.
"So we want to give these guys every chance to succeed. We hope that they do. No one can guarantee that it will. "The task they're taking on is very difficult. That includes there are parts - some of the elements that helped the current government come to power and drive Assad out are foreign fighters," he explained. "Some of them that came, that helped him, are people who have some pretty radical views, and they're not all entirely under the control of the government in Damascus. There are issues with the Kurds in the north.
"There are issues with Bedouin and Druze in the south. So there is concerns that Israel has about its own security. All these things have to be balanced.
So this is - it's a tough task. But I ask everybody the alternative, the alternative if this fails. Let's say that this government project failed, either because they make it fail or because it's just not successful.
"Then what you're going to see is Syria fall into total civil war, and it'll just become an ungoverned space and a playground for ISIS, for Hizballah, for Iran, for al-Qaida, for every dangerous element in the region, and we'll have a whole new war on our hands," Rubio added. (end) rsr.gb