Joel Rayburn, former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Levant Affairs and Special Envoy for Syria, at the UN in Geneva, Oct. 29, 2019. (Reuters)
Syria’s Assad has ‘nowhere left to go,’ can’t escape Caesar Act: US envoy Rayburn
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his regime “have nowhere left to go,” the top US diplomat responsible for Syria under the Trump administration recently said.
“From Washington, we see clearly that the Assad regime cannot escape the pressure of the Caesar Act. Nor can it overcome its international isolation. My message to Damascus at the end of my tenure is this: you have nowhere left to go,” Joel Rayburn tweeted shortly before his term ended at the US State Department.
For all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Rayburn, also the former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Levant Affairs, said the Assad regime had “reached its limit.”
“You have no choice but to accede to 2254,” he added, referring to the UN Security Council resolution passed in 2015 that called for a ceasefire, political solution and transition in Syria.
From Washington we see clearly that the Assad regime cannot escape the pressure of the Caesar Act. Nor can it overcome its international isolation. My message to Damascus at the end of my tenure is this: you have nowhere left to go. You have no choice but to accede to 2254.
— Joel Rayburn (@joel_rayburn) January 19, 2021
In a separate video posted Wednesday - Rayburn’s first as a private citizen following his time at the State Department - Rayburn said he would pray and hope that the Syrian people would experience “that same joy and pride in a peaceful transition of power.”
Rayburn was speaking hours after US President Joe Biden took over the White House following his November victory against former President Donald Trump.
رسالتي إلى أصدقائي السوريين لا تقلقوا لأن أمريكا قوية والشعب الأمريكي متوحد وسيكون دوما هناك انتقال سلس للسلطة في الولايات المتحدة. إنه شيء نفتخر ونسعد به. وأنا أتمنى وأدعو الله لكل أصدقائي السوريين وواثق أنه سيحصل يوما ما أن يكون لديكم ذات السعادة والفخر pic.twitter.com/QZB9a9gU2a
— Joel Rayburn (@joel_rayburn) January 20, 2021
Civil war broke out in Syria in 2011 after protesters marched against the Assad regime. Russia, Iran and its proxies, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah, stepped in to prop up the Assad regime.
The US has since imposed heavy sanctions against the regime and those who continue to support it politically or financially.
The Caesar Act, a part of the sanctions campaign, was signed into law under Trump and while Rayburn was at the State Department.
Read more:
Top US official on Syria, Defeat-ISIS coalition to step down: Pompeo
US working with Saudi Arabia, partners to find political solution in Syria: Official
