Syria Feature: Obama Insists “We Still Want Assad to Go”

President Obama has insisted — despite claims to the contrary from Israeli officials over his secret communication with Iran’s Supreme Leader — that he still wants the departure of Syria’s President Assad.

This weekend the Israeli sources told Haaretz that they had obtained the details of Obama’s letter to Ayatollah Khamenei, sent last month. They said that the President, looking to complete a nuclear deal with Iran, had reassured the Supreme Leader that American airstrikes were aimed only at the Islamic State — there was no intention of toppling the Assad regime.

Iran Feature: Israel — “Obama’s Letter to Khamenei Said Syria’s Assad Will Not Be Toppled”

Obama was asked in an interview, aired Sunday night on CBS News, about the letter, the nuclear talks, and US relations with Iran. He was then challenged: “Is it still our policy that we want President Assad of Syria to go?”

He responded:

It is still our policy, and it’s an almost absolute certainty that he has lost legitimacy with such a large portion of the country by dropping barrel bombs and killing children and destroying villages that were defenseless that he can’t regain the kind of legitimacy that would stitch that country back together again.

However, Obama confirmed that the US priority is the campaign against the Islamic State:

Now, obviously, our priority is to go after ISIL and so what we have said is that we are not engaging in a military action against the Syrian regime. We are going after ISIL facilities and personnel who are using Syria as a safe haven in service of our strategy in Iraq.

And he effectively ruled out any military pressure on Assad:

We do want to see a political settlement inside of Syria. That’s a long-term proposition. We can’t solve that militarily nor are we trying to.

The President maintained that the nuclear talks, which are seeking a comprehensive agreement by November 24, are not linked to any other issue: “I’ve been very clear publicly and privately we are not connecting in any way the nuclear negotiations from the issue of ISIL.”