WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that Washington hoped within hours to ease tensions in Syria, as he voiced concern over violence that has included Israeli strikes on its war-torn neighbor.
“In the next few hours, we hope to see some real progress to end what you’ve been seeing over the last couple of hours,” Rubio told reporters in the Oval Office as President Donald Trump nodded.
Rubio blamed “historic longtime rivalries” for the clashes in the majority-Druze city of Sweida, which Israel has cited for its latest military intervention.
“It led to an unfortunate situation and a misunderstanding, it looks like, between the Israeli side and the Syrian side,” Rubio said of the situation which has included Israel bombing the Syrian army’s headquarters in Damascus.
“We’ve been engaged with them all morning long and all night long — with both sides — and we think we’re on our way toward a real deescalation and then hopefully get back on track and helping Syria build the country and arriving at a situation in the Middle East that is far more stable,” said Rubio, who is also Trump’s national security adviser.
State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said that the United States was asking Syrian government forces to pull out of the flashpoint area.
“We are calling on the Syrian government to, in fact, withdraw their military in order to enable all sides to de-escalate and find a path forward,” she told reporters, without specifying the exact area.
She declined comment on whether the United States wanted Israel to stop its strikes.
Rubio, asked by a reporter earlier in the day at the State Department what he thought of Israel’s bombing, said, “We’re very concerned about it. We want it to stop.”
“We are very worried about the violence in southern Syria. It is a direct threat to efforts to help build a peaceful and stable Syria,” Rubio said in a statement.
“We have been and remain in repeated and constant talks with the governments of Syria and Israel on this matter.”
Trump has been prioritizing diplomacy with Syria’s new leadership.
