(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) The US sided with the Syrian opposition Tuesday that the country's presidential elections are rigged and called it a "disgrace," according to State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf.
Harf told reporters "Assad regime's staged election today continues a 40-year family legacy of violent suppression that brutally crushes political dissent and fails to fulfill Syrians' aspirations for peace and prosperity." She added, "Assad has no more credibility today than he did yesterday. Elections should be an opportunity for the people of a free society to be consulted and to play an important role in choosing their leaders." Harf asserted that the Assad regime "denied millions of Syrians the right to vote and continues to massacre the very electorate it purports to represent and protect." The State Department also noted that the regime shelled the Yarmouk refugee camp in eastern Ghouta.
Additionally, reporters put pressure on the State Department after comments made by retired US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford who said in an interview that he felt he could no longer defend American policy.
In the interview with CNN, Ford said, "We have been unable to address either the root causes of the conflict in terms of the fighting on the ground and the balance on the ground, and we have a growing extremism threat." Harf responded that, "He's a private citizen. He's entitled to his views. What we're focused on today are the officials who are still here, who are working on Syria." She added, "We appreciate former officials who want to weigh in on what's going on today. Obviously they have a unique perspective on this." On the future possibilities of US intervention in Syria Harf reiterated, "There needs to be some resemblance of a state. What you need is instead an organized, political transition. There's no military solution to overthrowing the Assad regime."
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