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Australia to work with U.S., Britain fighting Assad regime: media

Xinhua, September 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

Australia will work closely with the United States and Britain to unseat Syrian President Bashar al- Assad, local media has reported on Friday.

Despite claiming that Australian air strikes would not be targeting the Assad regime in Syria, News Corp has revealed that Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is preparing a political strategy to take to a world leaders summit at the United Nations later this month.

Australia announced this week that it would expand its military operations into Syria, with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) to run bombing missions in the hope of cutting supply lines and destroying enemy strongholds.

The news comes after Foreign Minister Julie Bishop confirmed that she had been in talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry this week, with some of the focus falling on a political solution to removing Assad without leaving Islamic State (IS) an opportunity to rule.

Syria has suffered from a bloody civil war since 2011. It has been reported that millions of Syrian citizens have been displaced since the beginning of the conflict, with more losing homes with the rise of IS in the region.

The Guardian reported on Friday that Syria has already rejected a proposal by Britain for Assad to lead a six month "transitional government" where he would step down as part of a political solution to the problems in the region.

Meanwhile, Julie Bishop told News Corp that she had discussed a "political solution" with the U.S. Secretary of State that would be considered after the world leaders meet.

Talking to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Thursday, Bishop said the difficulty with the Syrian situation was who would be next in line to take over.

"There is concern that if Assad were removed. who would take his place? And one has to be assured that it wouldn't be a terrorist organization," she said.

Abbott has already labeled the regime as "evil" and "absolutely monstrous to its own people" but stopped short of flagging military action against Assad. Endi