U.S. President Donald Trump (L), interim president of Syria Ahmed al-Sharaa (R), Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (C) posing for a photo in Riyadh, on May 14, 2025. (Credit: AFP/HO/SANA.)
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio cautioned on Tuesday that Syria could be mere weeks away from a "full-scale civil war," while expressing hope for the success of the transitional authorities.
"In fact, we believe that, frankly, the transitional authority, given the challenges it faces, is just weeks or even months away from a potential collapse and a full-scale civil war, meaning the disintegration of the country," he stated before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
His remarks come following a series of bloody attacks against Alawite and Druze minorities in Syria, where Islamist fighters overthrew Bashar al-Assad in December during a rapid offensive.
Donald Trump surprised many last week by announcing from Riyadh that he was lifting U.S. sanctions against Syria, and he met with interim Syrian President Ahmad el-Chareh, who overthrew Assad in December.
"If we engage with them, it might work, it might not. If we don't involve them, failure is guaranteed," Rubio declared, highlighting that the transitional authorities face "deep internal mistrust within the country, because Assad deliberately pitted these groups against each other."
