David Friedman to Newsmax: HTS Won't Create Peaceful Syria

The terrorist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which spearheaded Syrian rebel advances leading to the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad, has promised religious tolerance and other freedoms, but David Friedman, the former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, said Sunday on Newsmax that he has his doubts.

"My expectations are pretty low that this is a group that can actually create a peaceful, democratic, nonviolent, non-threatening Syria," Friedman told Newsmax's "Sunday Report." "I think that's really a bridge too far."

HTS in the past was an al-Qaida affiliate known as the Al-Nusra Front, until 2016, when its leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani severed ties with the global jihadist movement.

But Friedman pointed out that none of the combatants are friends with the United States except for the Kurds in northeast Syria.

"As President [-elect Donald] Trump said in his statement last night, Syria is a mess," said Friedman. "We have 900 troops in the northeast. You know, my guess is that they won't be there for long under the Trump administration. But at the same time, we don't want to have another Afghanistan."

The United States must also have a "serious understanding" with Turkey that they will stop slaughtering the Kurds, said Friedman.

"The Kurds were great allies of America when we were fighting ISIS," he said. "There's a lot of sides here and a lot of issues here and it's complicated."

The "real winner" could be Lebanon, Friedman added.

"With Iran out of the business of shipping goods through Syria, with that weigh station being eliminated, there really is a good chance for Hezbollah to be defeated," he said. Meanwhile, Friedman said there is "no question" the Syrian rebels succeeded after Israel "all but destroyed Hezbollah and weakened Iran so much."

However, he said the rebels won't become allies with Israel.

"They're not friends of Israel," he said. "They're not friends of America."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is at the Syrian border, he added, to make sure the situation does not bleed into his country.

"The key here is, at least in the short run, to make sure that this remains contained within Syria, and it's going to be very much a civil war for a while," said Friedman.

Meanwhile, two-thirds of Syria's population is displaced, with most of the 14 million people going into Turkey.

"Turkey is very keen on sending them back into Syria," said Friedman. "Turkey is the remaining Muslim power, you know, in the in the region. I mean, Iran is, thank God, you know, very much diminished. And Hezbollah is almost completely decapitated, not Turkey."

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