President Obama remarked about Syria Friday that "there's only so much bombing you can do when an entire country is outraged," suggesting that the Russian effort to aid dictator Bashar al-Assad militarily in the civil war there was ineffective.
The civil war there, which has raged for more than four years, has killed more than 200,000 Syrians and sparked a refugee crisis. Assad's government has killed far more Syrians than even the Islamic State terrorist group has, and Russia has also bombed the Syrian rebels supported by the U.S.
Asked whether Assad would still be in office when Obama's term a little more than a year from now, Obama responded that the kind of political transition necessary for that to occur had become much harder with Assad's decision to place his own needs in front of his country's.
"It's a lot harder now, but John Kerry's been doing some excellent work in moving that process forward," he said. "I do think that you've seen from the Russians a recognition that after a couple of months, they're not really moving the needle that much, despite a sizable deployment inside of Syria, and that's what I suggested would happen, because there's only so much bombing you can do when an entire country is outraged and believes that its ruler doesn't represent them."
Full exchange:
JULIE PACE: Do you think that Assad though could potentially remain in power a year from now?
BARACK OBAMA: I think that Assad is going to have to leave in order for the country to stop the bloodletting and for all the parties involved to be able to move forward in a non-sectarian way. He has lost legitimacy in the eyes of a large majority of the country. Now, is there a way of us constructing a bridge creating a political transition that allows those who are allied with Assad right now, allows the Russians, allows the Iranians to ensure that their equities are respected, that minorities like the Alawites are not crushed or retribution is not the order of the day. I think that's going to be very important as well, and that's what makes this so difficult.
Sadly, had Assad made a decision earlier that he was not more important personally than his entire country, that kind of political transition would have been much easier. It's a lot harder now, but John Kerry's been doing some excellent work in moving that process forward, and I do think that you've seen from the Russians a recognition that after a couple of months, they're not really moving the needle that much, despite a sizable deployment inside of Syria, and that's what I suggested would happen, because there's only so much bombing you can do when an entire country is outraged and believes that its ruler doesn't represent them.