Trump’s former defense secretary calls to address humanitarian aid, chemical weapons in Syria

Mark Esper, former secretary of Defense during Donald Trump’s first administration, called the collapse of the Syrian regime “historic” on Sunday, comparing it to the fall of other Middle Eastern governments, including Muammar Gaddafi in Libya and Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

“This is significant,” he told CNN’s “State of the Nation” host Jake Tapper. “I think importantly for us right now, at a strategic perspective, what you see is Russia no longer — we hope — has a foothold in the Middle East.”

The collapse took place early Sunday morning when Syrian rebels entered Damascus, the Syrian capital, and declared victory over the Assad family’s 50-year reign. Syrian President Bashar Assad, who succeeded his father in 2000, is reported to have fled the country.

Though all fighting may not be over yet, the seizure of Damascus was a breakthrough after a decade-plus of civil war in which over half a million people died; Assad deployed chemical weapons during the war.

“There are a number of immediate concerns we have to address,” Esper said. “There’s going to be the humanitarian aid concern, which I think we and other countries in the U.N. will have to address.”

The European Union already declared that the rebel win is a defeat for Russia and Iran, and the British Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner called for “a political resolution in line with the U.N. resolutions.”

Esper also addressed the importance of “the chemical weapons and other military capabilities. We do not want those to get into the wrong hands, so there needs to be an effort to secure them or get some assurance from a responsible player that those will be secured and ultimately destroyed,” he said.

Since leaving the Trump administration, Esper has broken ties with his former boss, speaking out against Trump’s actions during the first administration. However, he agreed with Trump on Sunday in the idea that there is no need to send more U.S. troops to Syria.

“We do still have troops in southeast Syria at Al-Tanf. It’s about 900 troops there, principally to continue the counter ISIS operations to make sure that the caliphate doesn’t rise up. But secondly, to watch Iran’s movement through the region,” Esper said. “So I think that’s important, that will stay.”

He continued: “There’s a lot of U.S. interests here and it’s in our strategic interest to make sure that whatever comes to power, whoever comes to power is going to be not a caliphate, not a theocracy, but something that more in tune with what we and, I should importantly say, what Israel can live with going forward.”