Report: US told Turkey that Israel didn't want Assad to fall
'Israel never wanted Bashar to leave,' Turkey's FM said – 'Even after the start of the rebels' revolution, the Americans told us that Israel does not want Bashar to go - even up until the last day'
US officials told counterparts in Turkey that Israel was not interested in former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad losing power in the country, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said in an interview Sunday with Saudi news channel Al-Hadath.
"Israel never wanted Bashar to leave," said Fidan. "Even after the start of the rebels' revolution, the Americans told us that Israel does not want Bashar to go - even up until the last day."
Fidan also claimed that, during a visit to Turkey in 2016, then-US Vice President Joe Biden announced to his government that Washington was opposed to the overthrow of Assad. "He told us that the US does not want Bashar to go," Fidan said. "We understood that it was not really his position, but Israel's position."