French President Emmanuel Macron believes the United States will be pivotal in shaping a postwar Syria, despite President Trump expressing his desire to withdraw U.S. forces from the country.
“We will have to build the new Syria afterwards and that’s why I think the U.S. role is very important,” Macron said during an interview with “Fox News Sunday.”
“I will be very blunt. The day that we will have finished this war against ISIS, if we leave, definitely and totally, even from a political point of view, we will leave the floor to the Iranian regime, [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad, and they will prepare the new war. They will fuel the new terrorists,” he continued.
Macron added, “all the countries of the region, even Russia and Turkey, will have a very important role to play in order to create this new Syria.”
.@EmmanuelMacron discusses the role of the U.S. and allies in Syria: pic.twitter.com/nMnloASJUL
— FoxNewsSunday (@FoxNewsSunday) April 22, 2018
Macron’s comments follow U.S., British and French coordination on a military response to the chemical attacks against civilians in Syria.
Macron will arrive in Washington on April 23 as part of the first state visit of Trump’s presidency.
On April 25, Macron will also become the eighth French president to address the House and Senate since 1824, after accepting House Speaker Paul Ryan’s invitation to speak before a joint body of Congress.
Macron told “Fox News Sunday” the Iran nuclear deal would be a key agenda item for the trip.
While acknowledging that it was not “perfect,” he said he would urge Trump to maintain the status quo of the agreement and to continue to lift sanctions against Tehran.
“Let’s preserve the framework because it’s better than the sort of North Korean-type of situation,” Macron said. “I want to fight against ballistic missiles, I want to fight contain their influence in the region.”
