美国国家公共电台 NPR Putin Invites Trump To Help End Syrian War As Russia Bombs Civilian Targets

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ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

There were many astonishing moments in today's press conference with President Trump¹ and Russian President Vladimir Putin. One of them involved the way forward in Syria. Putin sent Russian forces into Syria about three years ago to support the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Assad's forces have attacked civilian² areas, and the Russian air force is also blamed for civilian casualties. The U.S. has military forces in Syria, too. And joining us now to talk about what Putin and Trump said about Syria is NPR Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman. Hi, Tom.

TOM BOWMAN, BYLINE³: Hey, Ari.

SHAPIRO: First describe what the two of them said about the way forward in Syria and what stood out to you about these remarks.

BOWMAN: Well, what stood out is that Putin portrayed⁴ himself as a peacemaker and invited Trump to join him. But in reality, the Russians over the past three years have enabled the Assad regime which has killed about a half million people. And both Syria and Russia have bombed hospitals, humanitarian⁵ convoys⁶, schools. And Russia supported a regime that has used of course chemical weapons on its own people. But listen to what Putin said today.

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PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN: (Through interpreter) As far as Syria is concerned, the task of establishing peace and reconciliation⁷ in this country could be the first showcase example of this successful joint⁸ work. Russia and the United States apparently⁹ can act proactively and take leadership on this issue and organize the interaction to overcome humanitarian crises and help Syrian refugees to go back to their homes. In order to accomplish this level of successful cooperation in Syria, we have all the required components¹⁰.

BOWMAN: So he talked about overcoming a humanitarian crisis largely created by Russia and Assad. And as far as Syrian refugees going back to their homes, Ari, the Assad regime has confiscated¹¹ property from those who oppose them.

SHAPIRO: So if Russia has attacked groups that the U.S. is supporting and Russia is supporting the Assad regime that the U.S. opposes, where is there room for cooperation here? What could that look like?

BOWMAN: Well, it's hard to say. One possibility is creating cease-fire zones or zones of responsibility. A cease-fire zone was created in the southwestern part of the country between Putin and Trump just last year. That's unraveled now. Syrian and Russian aircraft are attacking rebels, killing¹² civilians¹³ as well, displacing hundreds of thousands more. Now, complicating¹⁴ all this is U.S. is supporting Syrian Democratic Forces in the northeast or the other side of the country. They're primarily focused on defeating ISIS.

But after ISIS is defeated, the U.S. wants to stabilize¹⁵ the area, create security forces, rebuild water treatment plants and so forth¹⁶. But the question is, will Assad just try to take over that whole area? So they've been trying to do that, and that was in Syria back in February. The Russian mercenaries, this force called Wagner, tried to cross into this area where the U.S. and the Kurdish forces were, and the U.S. struck back and killed 200 of them.

SHAPIRO: Wow. You talked to a lot of people at the Pentagon, military leaders. What do they say about the dream of U.S.-Russian cooperation in Syria? Is this plausible¹⁷?

BOWMAN: Well, they're very wary¹⁸ of it as a result of the Russian mercenaries...

SHAPIRO: Right.

BOWMAN: ...Attacking U.S.-Kurdish forces. What they hope to do is first defeat ISIS and then try to stabilize this area and then hopefully have some sort of a peace conference where these Kurdish and Arab allies of the U.S. can somehow be part of a new Syria. But Trump - he seems like he wants to get out rather quickly. He froze $200 million in stabilization¹⁹ aid just recently, and he may just decide, we've spent enough time and money there; let's just turn it over to Russia.

SHAPIRO: NPR Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman - thanks, Tom.

BOWMAN: You're welcome.