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I think [Bashar] Assad is a bad guy, a very bad guy, all right? -- Donald Trump
I think those who have wanted regime [of Bashar Assad] change have made a mistake. -- Rand Paul
Bashar Assad is one of the main reasons why ISIS even exists to begin with. Assad is a puppet of Iran. -- Marco Rubio
While all Alawites fear vengeance against their entire community should Assad fall, there are varying degrees of loyalty to the Assads. -- Elliott Abrams
If we topple [Bashar] Assad, the result will be ISIS will take over Syria, and it will worsen U.S. national security interests. -- Ted Cruz
Still people want to topple [Bashar] Assad. And then there will be chaos, and I think ISIS will then be in charge of Syria. -- Rand Paul
I don't think that the United States has the bulk of the responsibility. I really put that on [Bashar] Assad and on the Iraqis and on the region itself. -- Hillary Clinton
I think that by arming the allies of ISIS, the Islamic rebels against [Bashar] Assad, that we created a safe space or made that space bigger for ISIS to grow. -- Rand Paul
I think we bring together that broad coalition including Russia to help us destroy ISIS and work on a timetable to get rid of Assad, hopefully through Democratic elections. First priority, destroy ISIS. -- Bernie Sanders
We have to do one thing at a time. We can't be fighting ISIS and fighting [Bashar]Assad. Assad is fighting ISIS. He is fighting ISIS. Russia is fighting now ISIS. And Iran is fighting ISIS. -- Donald Trump
This comes from a group of people who`ve been wrong about every foreign policy issue over the last two decades. They supported Hillary Clinton`s war in Libya. They supported President [Barack] Obama`s bombing of Assad. -- Barack Obama
I think that if you believe in regime change, you're mistaken. In 2013, we put 600 tons of weapons - us, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar - into the war against [Bashar] Assad. By pushing Assad back, we did create a safe space. -- Rand Paul
Part of the problem that we have currently in the Middle East is that[Bashar] Assad has hung on to power with the very strong support of Russia and Iran and with the proxy of Hezbollah being there basically fighting his battles. -- Hillary Clinton
The other thing I said is the great irony is you will be back fighting against your own weapons. Had [Bashar] Assad been bombed when he used chemical weapons two years ago, ISIS would be in charge of all of Syria now. -- Rand Paul
Russia went into Syria basically to support President Bashar al-Assad. And the Western allies have said Russia's really done very little against ISIS. For his part, Putin said Russia's open to stronger cooperation, and he supports Frances's effort to build a strong anti-terror coalition. -- Corey Flintoff
We have to get rid of ISIS first. After we get rid of ISIS, we'll start thinking about it. But we can't be fighting [Bashar] Assad. And when you're fighting Assad, you are fighting Russia, you're fighting - you're fighting a lot of different groups. -- Donald Trump
I don't understand this thing about [Bashar] Assad. He has to go. Assad is aligned with Iran and Russia. The one thing we want to prevent is we want to prevent Iran being able to extend a Shia crescent all across the Middle East. Assad has got to go. -- John Kasich
Israel lost its war. Will Assad's enemies lose, too? -- Robert Fisk
Syria is lucky to have Bashar al-Assad as her President. -- George Galloway
It is always an eerie experience to sit among Bashar al-Assad's soldiers. -- Robert Fisk
Bashar Assad clearly doesn't want to hear anything that impugns his government. -- Michael Isikoff
Russia and Iran are not going to allow the Assad regime to fall. -- Rashid Khalidi
President al-Assad and his army are the only force that actually fights ISIS. -- Vladimir Putin
There is nothing in common between al-Assad and ISIS, they fight against each other. -- Vladimir Putin
Russia hasn't paid any attention to ISIS. They're interested in keeping Assad in power. -- Hillary Clinton
Assad's regime helped ISIS grow by attacking other opposition forces and rarely targeting ISIS. -- Richard Engel
A majority of the Syrian people believe in the regime and support Bashar al-Assad. -- Hassan Nasrallah
You cannot bring peace in Syria as long as [Bashar] Assad is, in fact, there. -- John F. Kerry
I don't like [Bashir] Assad at all. But Assad is killing ISIS. Russia is killing ISIS. -- Donald Trump
Assad is a bad guy, but you may very well end up with worse than Assad. -- Donald Trump
Just because Iran and Syria may recognize Assad's weaknesses doesn't necessarily mean that Assad recognizes his weaknesses. -- Barack Obama
The word 'democracy' and the name of Assad do not blend very well in much of Syria. -- Robert Fisk
[Bashar] Assad has made a series of choices ever since then that is literally destroying his country. -- John F. Kerry
[Donald] Trump suggesting to "The Wall Street Journal" that he would stop aiding the rebels fighting [Bashir] Assad. -- George Stephanopoulos
There is no one else at all who is fighting ISIS on the ground, except for President al-Assad's army. -- Vladimir Putin
I thought the best way to topple Assad was not through airstrikes, but through equipping the moderate rebel elements. -- Marco Rubio
The United States of America should be prepared to use military force to strike military targets of the Assad regime. -- Mike Pence
President Bashar Assad's regime is in the unique position of being targeted both by Israel and supporters of al Qaeda. -- Richard Engel
Bashar al-Assad and those who still stand by him are now responsible for the deaths of more than 20,000 in Syria. -- Susan Rice
Bashar Assad has said many things. We will see in the near term whether he is serious about a political process. -- Adel al-Jubeir
Hillary Clinton called President Assad a "reformer". She called Assad a "different kind of leader". There's now 400,000 now dead...think about that. -- Chris Christie
Bashar Assad is a major cause of the refugees which are now flooding Europe and causing such consternation in the United States. -- John McCain
America is so outplayed by Putin and Assad, and by the way - and by Iran. Nobody can believe how stupid our leadership is. -- Donald Trump
We have always said there are two ways to resolve Syria, and both will end up with the same result: a Syria without Bashar Assad. -- Adel al-Jubeir
If you can resolve this transition of [Bashar] Assad, that is absolutely possible, but you have to have a clarity for everybody about the way forward. -- John F. Kerry
Clinton impressed Assad: a young man who appeared to want to be neutral in the Arab-Israeli dispute - an illusion of course, but that's what Assad thought. -- Robert Fisk
In an odd way, we have really destroyed two of our strongest allies against the Islamists. Saddam Hussein, and we've probably fatally undermined Bashir al Assad in Syria. -- Michael Scheuer
Unless there is meaningful change in Syria and an end to the crackdown, President Assad and those around him will find themselves isolated internationally and discredited within Syria. -- William Hague
It is clear that the American people are weary of war. However, Assad gassing his own people is an issue of our national security, regional stability and global security. -- Nancy Pelosi
I think it's important to remember the tensions between Turkey and Russia predate this jet shoot down by some time. I mean, Russia's long been Bashar al-Assad's strongest backer. -- Peter Kenyon
In Syria, if [Bashar al-] Assad had just been a statesman and handed over the reigns in time, Syria would not be heading down the nightmare that it is today. -- Richard Branson
We could have made peace with Syrian dictator Bashar Assad a long time ago. It didn't happen, because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doesn't want to give up the Golan (Heights). -- Tom Segev
I invite President Assad to come to Jerusalem and to speak with me, with our parliament, with whomever he wants to speak in Israel and in the territories among the Palestinians. -- Yitzhak Rabin
I think we can all agree [Bashar] Assad is a bad and evil actor, but I'm not so sure that we want the Islamic rebels to be in charge of Syria either. -- Rand Paul
President Bush was disgusted by the Assad regime's oppression of the Syrian people as well as its support for terrorism, interference in Lebanon, and encouragement of jihadist attacks on Americans in Iraq. -- Elliott Abrams
Iran's arms exports to the murderous Assad regime in Syria are of particular concern. As the Panel of Experts has concluded, Syria is now the central party to illicit Iranian arms transfers. -- Susan Rice
There's no way to resolve Syria without Iran being involved, given its financing of Assad and the fact that Hezbollah is probably the most effective fighting force that Assad can count on. -- Barack Obama
The transition from tyranny to democracy is very hard. The Syrian people have to handle this in a way that works in Syria. And the brutality of the Assad regime is unacceptable. -- Jacob Lew
I think it's too late. I think that there's been too much. This all started with the red line, walking away from it. The inability to arm the legitimate [Bashar] Assad opposition. -- John Kasich
It would be naive of me to suggest that with Russia committed militarily, as it is, to supporting what in many cases are barbarous tactics by the Assad regime to crush the opposition. -- Barack Obama
We know that russians are deeply engaged in supporting Assad because they want to have a place in the Middle East. They have a naval base, they have an air base in Syria. -- Hillary Clinton
Is Russia worried that defeating Daesh will open the door for defeating Bashar Assad? That would be a different story. But I don't think World War III is going to happen in Syria. -- Adel al-Jubeir
I don't like Assad at all, but Assad is killing ISIS. Russia is killing ISIS. And Iran is killing ISIS. And those three have now lined up because of our weak foreign policy. -- Donald Trump
I think Hillary Clinton is right. I think it isn't enough to leave [Bashir] Assad in place, because as long as he is there, there is going to be a recruiting magnet for ISIS. -- Adam Schiff
I don't think anyone can predict what the short term will look like. In the long term, it will be a Syria without Bashar Assad. The longer it takes, the worse it will get. -- Adel al-Jubeir
The one way, possibly, out of this is for [Bashar] Assad to abdicate and plead, perhaps to Russia or somewhere else. Would save another wave of civilian casualties if we could get him to abdicate. -- Rand Paul
Well, I think the U.S. has been careful not to go too far in attacking Iran's allies, in particular in attacking Hezbollah forces in Syria, which have been propping up the regime of Bashar al-Assad. -- David Ignatius
Syrians need to prepare for the aftermath if the Assad regime falls. Atrocities that could be considered war crimes have been committed in this country, and Syrians should rightly demand that the perpetrators be held accountable. -- Richard Engel
I'm not a journalist. So I didn't down and let Assad charm me. I didn't walk away and say "my god he's got an Apple computer and he really likes Beyonce so he must be a liberal." -- George Friedman
You want to bring the Assad regime down? You have to beat the Russians and the Iranians in Syria. That is not going to happen. Like it, don't like it - it's not going to be very pleasant. -- Rashid Khalidi
The fate of Syria hangs in the balance, but it is entirely possible that the fall of the Assad regime will result in anarchy and cause Syria to turn into a second Afghanistan, a base for anti-Israel terrorism. -- Martin Van Creveld
I still think a reasonable question is, would we be better off with [Muamar] Gadhafi and Bashar al-Assad still in there and Mubarak still there and Saddam [Hussein] there than the crap we have got looking at us now? -- Chris Matthews
Some leaders think time will solve the problem. Their hope is that Assad's regime will ultimately fall from the heavy toll of the horrors it has spawned. From past experience with such regimes, this scenario is unlikely to happen. -- Ahmed Zewail
Hany Abu-Assad was sitting next to me, and his film 'Paradise Now' had won the Golden Globe. He said to me at the Globes, 'Paradise now, talk to you later.' [laughs] I gave him a big hug for that. -- Gavin Hood
On Syria, it's clear that the indiscriminate attacks on civilians by the [Bashar] Assad regime and Russia will only worsen the humanitarian catastrophe and that a negotiated end to the conflict is the only way to achieve lasting peace in Syria. -- Barack Obama
[Hillary] Clinton is too much into regime change and a little bit too aggressive without knowing what the unintended consequences might be. Yes, we could get rid of Assad tomorrow, but that would create another political vacuum that would benefit ISIS. -- Bernie Sanders
In the eyes of the Iranians, they don't respect or fear Barack Obama. He drew a line against Assad when he used chemical weapons and did nothing about it. And our friends, the Arabs and the Israelis, don't trust President Obama. -- Lindsey Graham
Turkey wants to see Bashar al-Assad go and wants to kind of expand its sphere of influence into Turkey so its Ottoman glory or Ottoman past are once again project into the Syrian provinces. That's kind of what Turkey's vision is. -- Richard Engel
Shabiha' is a difficult word to translate into English. It comes from the word Syrians used to describe the luxury Mercedes favored by the Assad family's operatives that the enforcers of the regime used to move money, smuggle weapons and intimidate opponents. -- Richard Engel
IS [Islamic State] has played a major role in helping Bashar al-Assad to reposition Syria on the international scene. Now, it is almost impossible to come up with a solution that would exclude him. The political game appears to be very cynical indeed. -- Tariq Ramadan
What holds an Arab leader in power is a mixture of violence and prestige. Both President Assad and King Hussein were felt to have defended Arab interests against the world. That, in the end, is more important than what they wear on their head. -- James Buchan
The Russians appear to be - appear to be in conjunction with the Turks, as well as the Iranians, appear to be at a point where they are realizing for their interests as well, Assad being in power indefinitely is not in their interests. -- Joe Biden
Assad's mother was a terror. He was terrified of her and she kept saying to him, you're not like your father. That's interesting, but it's useless information. It doesn't tell me anything about how the first and second armored brigades are going to operate. -- George Friedman
Sunni are the majority of the [Syria], 60 to 65 percent. They've been ruled by [Bashar] Assad, who represents a minority Alawite element, which is about 12, 13 percent. And because of the choices Assad made, it's very difficult to see how you resolve this without buy-in from the Sunni world. -- John F. Kerry
Russia will not take part in any field operations on the territory of Syria or in other states; at least, we do not plan it for now. But we are thinking of how to intensify our work both with President al-Assad and our partners in other countries. -- Vladimir Putin
If we have the kinds of confirmation that we need, we will once again work with the international community and the organization charged with monitoring compliance by the Syrian government, and we will reach out to patrons of Assad like Russia to put a stop to it. -- Barack Obama
While starving refugees in Homs were providing target practice for government snipers, Bashar al-Assad's strongest international backer was in Sochi, at the Iceberg Skating Palace, visibly moved, smiling with deep satisfaction, as the Russians beautifully glided and leaped their way to the gold medal in the team event. -- George Packer
[Vladimir] Putin supporting Bashar al-Assad, helping with the Syrian refugee crisis and, I think for any republican, he [Donald Trump] has got to stop saying this, because I was with him. I was with him and he said that, it was like, I'm out. I'm out. It's too crazy. -- John McCain
Iran has basically propped up Assad, who has waged an absolute war of horror against the Syrian people. And he has done anything he could to stay in power with the full support of the Iranians and including Iranian troops and Hezbollah from Lebanon, which are an Iranian proxy. -- Hillary Clinton
And if [Vladimir Putin] does fight ISIL alone, how does it work out for Russia to have sided with Assad, sided with Iran, sided with Hizballah, when they're trying to reach out to the rest of the Sunni world in the region? That's not a good equation for Russia. -- John F. Kerry
Bashar Assad has been so brutal toward the Sunni within Syria that he created the space that led to the people of Syria themselves to stand up and try to overthrow him. That led to the chaos which allowed ISIS to come in and take advantage of that situation and grow more powerful. -- Marco Rubio
Hillary Clinton has gotten every foreign policy challenge wrong. Hitting the reset button with Vladimir Putin - recall that she called Bashar Al-Assad a positive reformer and then she opened an embassy and then later she said, over, and over, and over again, "Bashar Al-Assad must go." Although she wasn't prepared to do anything about it. -- Carly Fiorina
I'll tell you whose view on [Bashar] Assad is the same as mine. It's Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Israel doesn't have a dog in that fight because Assad is a puppet of Iran, a Shia radical Islamic terrorist, but at the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn't want to see Syria governed by ISIS. -- Ted Cruz
I think we are making an assumption that that is the outcome of the negotiations. I think President Assad will be prepared to accept whatever the outcome of the intra-Syrian dialogue and the decision of the Syrian people is. But people are trying to decide and determine the outcome of the negotiation before even we agree to start the negotiations. -- Mohammad Javad Zarif
We need to learn from history. These same leaders - [Barack] Obama,[Hillary] Clinton, and far too many Republicans - want to topple [Bashar] Assad. Assad is a bad man. Gadhafi was a bad man. Mubarak had a terrible human rights record. But they were assisting us - at least [Muammar]Gadhafi and[Hosni] Mubarak - in fighting radical Islamic terrorists. -- Ted Cruz
You can imagine what the advisers are telling Junior Assad: "Your statues are much stronger than Saddam's. His were hollow, and bolted in place with inferior metal; yours are solid, and are anchored to a depth of three feet. Let the American tanks come! Their gears will strip and their engines whine in defeat as they attempt to pull down your statues! -- James Lileks
I'll tell what reckless is. What reckless is is calling [Bashar] Assad a reformer. What reckless is allowing Russia to come into Crimea and Ukraine. What reckless is is inviting Russia into Syria to team with Iran. That is reckless. And the reckless people are the folks in the White House right now. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the reckless people. -- Chris Christie

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