U.S. airstrikes targeting the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria have helped Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, former U.S. ambassador to Syria Robert Ford said during a meeting at the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday.
"The airstrike campaign which we started in September has actually hurt the moderate opposition. It has discredited them on the street, because our strike targeted territory taken by the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front which has been fighting against the Assad regime", the former ambassador said.
"ISIS units were not fighting the moderate opposition, they were fighting the Assad regime."
"In fact, what we did is we played the role of the Assad air force," Ford said.
Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday that the Assad regime and ISIS are dependent on each other, “Assad and ISIS are symbiotic. ISIS presents itself as the only alternative to Assad. Assad purports to be the last line of defense against ISIS. Both are stronger as a result.” .
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