The News
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Tuesday that Syria could descend into a new civil war, just days after President Donald Trump said he would lift sanctions on Damascus.
Rubio told lawmakers that Syria may be weeks away from “potential collapse and full-scale civil war of epic proportions.”
The fall of Bashar al-Assad after a 13-year civil war was met with jubilation last year, but Damascus now faces the challenge of holding those responsible for the regime’s crimes accountable while maintaining social cohesion: The new government has set up groups to find thousands who disappeared during Assad’s rule, and compensate victims of state crimes, but legal proceedings will be “difficult and complex,” one official said, especially because evidence may have been compromised.