U.S. Reassured Syria’s Assad in Back-Channel Message
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An Iraqi envoy conveyed a U.S. message to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last week that airstrikes against Islamic State extremists in Syria wouldn’t be directed against his regime, Iraq’s prime minister said.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi said today that he sent his national security adviser, Faleh al-Fayyad, to meet with Assad last week, days after U.S. President Barack Obama told Americans that he was prepared to expand the air campaign against Islamic State into Syria.