by WorldTribune Staff, November 10, 2016

The leader of a Syrian opposition group is calling on U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to help protect Syrian civilians from the ongoing brutality of the Bashar Assad regime.

Riad Hijab, head of the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), said on Nov. 9 that Syrian civilians were in urgent need of protection and American support was needed to “establish peace in our region and to find fair and swift solutions for the threat of terrorism… especially the state terrorism practiced by the Syrian regime against the Syrian people.”

Many within anti-Assad rebel groups in Syria have been critical of President Barack Obama for his failure to in any way go after the Assad regime, particularly after Obama’s “red line” promise on Assad’s use of chemical weapons.

Hijab congratulated Trump on his election victory and urged him to provide “the fastest and most efficient means to protect civilians.”

In an interview with The New York Times on March 26, Trump said he thought “the approach of fighting Assad and ISIL simultaneously was madness, and idiocy.”

“You can’t be fighting two people that are fighting each other, and fighting them together. You have to pick one or the other,” said Trump, who has also pledged to improve America’s ties with Assad’s main backer, Russia.

The Syrian government has not officially reacted to Trump’s victory, but pro-regime commentators have welcomed the result.

  Bashar Assad, High Negotiations Committee, Syrian opposition appeals to Trump to protect civilians, WorldTribune.com