叙利亚阿萨德政权垮台：反政府武装攻入大马士革，阿萨德出逃
叙利亚反政府武装12月8日攻入首都大马士革，总统巴沙尔·阿萨德（Bashar Assad）辞去职务并逃离叙利亚，执政超过半个世纪的阿萨德家族统治就此终结。美国总统拜登当天下午在白宫罗斯福厅发表讲话，称阿萨德政权的垮台是「一项根本的正义之举」，是叙利亚人民建设更美好未来的历史性机遇，同时也是一个充满风险与不确定性的时刻。
拜登说，经过13年内战，阿萨德政权杀害了数十万无辜的叙利亚人；过去一周，伊朗、黎巴嫩真主党与俄罗斯这三个阿萨德的主要支持者相继无力再支撑该政权，原因在于三者都已远比他上任时虚弱。他表示，美国将支持约旦、黎巴嫩、伊拉克与以色列等叙利亚邻国应对过渡期可能出现的威胁，并将高级官员派往该地区。
在打击极端组织方面，拜登表示美国在叙利亚东部的反「伊斯兰国」任务将维持下去，包括看守关押该组织武装人员的设施，美国不会让该组织借任何真空重建避风港；他透露，美军当天已在叙利亚境内对该组织的营地与人员实施了十余次精确空袭。
拜登还表示，美国将通过联合国主导的进程与叙利亚各派接触，推动向一个独立、主权的新叙利亚过渡，制定新宪法、组建服务全体叙利亚人的新政府，这一进程将由叙利亚人民自己决定，美国将通过人道主义援助等尽其所能予以支持。他同时提醒，部分推翻阿萨德的反政府组织自身有恐怖主义与侵犯人权的记录，美国将依据其行动而非言辞作出判断。
关于十多年前在叙利亚被绑架的美国记者 Austin Tice，拜登在问答环节表示，美方相信他还活着、认为可以把他带回来，但目前尚无直接证据，并表示阿萨德应当被追究责任。
Assad Regime Falls in Syria as Rebels Enter Damascus and Assad Flees
Syrian rebel forces entered the capital, Damascus, on December 8, and President Bashar Assad resigned his office and fled Syria, ending more than half a century of Assad family rule. Speaking that afternoon in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, U.S. President Joe Biden called the fall of the regime "a fundamental act of justice" and a moment of historic opportunity for the Syrian people to build a better future, while also a moment of risk and uncertainty.
Biden said that after 13 years of civil war, the Assad regime had brutalized, tortured and killed literally hundreds of thousands of innocent Syrians, and that over the past week the support of its three main backers - Iran, Hezbollah and Russia - had collapsed because all three were far weaker than when he took office. He said the United States would support Syria's neighbors, including Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Israel, should any threat arise during the transition, and would send senior officials to the region.
On countering extremists, Biden said the U.S. mission against ISIS in eastern Syria would be maintained, including the security of detention facilities holding ISIS fighters, and that the United States would not let ISIS take advantage of any vacuum to reestablish a safe haven; he disclosed that U.S. forces had that day conducted a dozen precision airstrikes targeting ISIS camps and operatives inside Syria.
Biden said the United States would engage with all Syrian groups, including within the process led by the United Nations, to establish a transition toward an independent, sovereign Syria with a new constitution and a new government serving all Syrians, a process to be determined by the Syrian people themselves, with U.S. support including humanitarian relief. He cautioned that some of the rebel groups that took down Assad have their own grim record of terrorism and human rights abuses, and that the United States would assess not just their words but their actions.
Asked about Austin Tice, the American journalist taken captive in Syria more than 12 years earlier, Biden said the United States believes he is alive and thinks it can get him back, but has no direct evidence of that yet, adding that Assad should be held accountable.
来源：白宫
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：图：叙利亚首都大马士革天际线，画面中央为倭马亚广场一带。Samosyr 摄，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Damascus skyline in Syria, with the Umayyad Square area at center. Photo by Samosyr, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
GSM Global · 本篇英文版 English edition of this story
