Trump says Turkey ‘did an unfriendly takeover’ in Syria as US-brokered cease-fire appears to fail

President-elect Trump on Monday described the recent fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime as an "unfriendly takeover" orchestrated by Turkey. 

"I think Turkey is very smart," he said from a press conference at his Florida residence. "Turkey did an unfriendly takeover, without a lot of lives being lost. I can say that Assad was a butcher, what he did to children."

Assad fled to Russia just over a week ago after the al Qaeda-derived organization dubbed Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rapidly took over western Syria in an offensive that began on Nov. 27, first taking Aleppo, Hama and Homsc, before seizing the capital city of Damascus. 

ASSAD PAINTS HIMSELF AS 'CUSTODIAN' TO SYRIA AS PICTURE UNFOLDS ON COLLAPSE OF DAMASCUS