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This is what the President of the United States, Donald Trump, says on the television program “Fox & Friends.” Trump has previously denied prior information about the assassination plans, but now he himself confirms that this was highly relevant and a personal wish.
Bashar al-Assad has been the president of Syria since 2000.
During his presidency, hundreds of thousands of people have died. Many have been tortured, others have been kidnapped or disappeared without a trace.
Thanks to Russia’s military intervention, Assad has been able to remain in power. After more than nine years of civil war, the country is in ruins. The suffering is enormous and millions continue to flee.
Trump: “Let’s kill him”
The Syrian dictator has many enemies. The United States has imposed sanctions on the brutal Assad regime for several years, financially punishing the president.
But Assad has still managed to hold on to power, thanks largely to the support of Iran, the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, and Russia.
James Mattis and Donald Trump. Photo: Reuters / Leah Millis
In 2017, however, he had the margins on his side. According to the book “Fear: Trump in the White House,” written by the man behind the Watergate revelation, Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward, Assad is said to have come close to being liquidated.
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, is said to have called his own Secretary of Defense, General Jim Mattis, several times. Trump’s message was clear: “We are going to kill him.”
The background to Trump’s desire to kill Assad is said to have come after a chemical attack on civilians, which upset Trump and the world at large.
– He was a very overrated general.
The general, however, had a different opinion from his superior and refused to carry out the order. Thus, the Syrian dictator escaped the American bullets.
Mattis became Trump’s first Secretary of Defense and the 26th in the United States on January 20, 2017. He served one year and eleven months.
He disagreed with the president on several key foreign policy issues and withdrew after Trump, against Mattis’s will, announced the United States’ withdrawal from Syria.
“He was a very overrated general and I let him go,” Trump said of his former defense secretary. However, he did not regret that Assad ended up saving his life.
– I had a chance to get it out if I wanted
– I do not regret. I could have lived with both of them. You know, he certainly didn’t consider him a good person, and he had a chance to eliminate him if he wanted to, but Mattis was against it.Says Trump in the television interview.
However, he recalled his “success” in eliminating two of America’s avowed enemies.
– I took out Soleimani, as you know, I took out al-Baghdadi. These are two of the biggest terrorists, Trump emphasized.
Video: “Mad Dog Mattis”: – The biggest threat since WWII
