WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Sunday that the sudden collapse of the Syrian government under Bashar Assad^[1] is a “fundamental act of justice” after decades of repression, but it was “a moment of risk and uncertainty” for the Middle East.

Biden spoke at the White House hours after after rebel groups completed a takeover of the country following more than a dozen years of violent civil war and decades of leadership by Assad and his family^[2]. Biden said the United States was monitoring reports of the whereabouts of Assad, with Russian state media saying he had fled to Moscow and received asylum from his longtime ally.

The outgoing Biden administration and President-elect Donald Trump were working to make sense of new threats and opportunities across the Middle East.

Biden credited action by the U.S. and its allies for weakening Syria's backers — Russia, Iran and Hezbollah. He said “for the first time” that they could no longer defend Assad's grip on power.

“Our approach has shifted the balance of power in the Middle East," Biden said, after a meeting with his national security team.

Trump said Sunday that Assad had fled because close ally Vladimir Putin,^[3] the Russian president, “was not interested in protecting him any longer.”

Those comments on Trump's social media platform came a day after he used another post to decry the possibility of the U.S. intervening militarily^[4] in Syria to aid the rebels, declaring, “THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT." The Biden administration said it had no intention of intervening.

The U.S has about 900 troops in Syria, including forces working with Kurdish allies in the opposition-held northeast to prevent any resurgence of the Islamic State group. Biden said he intended for those troops to remain, adding that U.S. forces on Sunday conducted “precision air strikes" on IS camps and operations in Syria.

U.S. Central Command said the operation hit more than 75 targets.

“We’re clear-eyed about the fact that ISIS will try and take advantage of any vacuum to reestablish its credibility, and create a safe haven," Biden said, using a different acronym for the group. "We will not let that happen.”

The Syrian opposition that brought down Assad is led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham^[5], which the U.S. says is a terrorist organization with links to al-Qaida, although the group says it has since broken ties with al-Qaida.

“We will remain vigilant,” Biden said. “Make no mistake, some of the rebel groups that took down Assad have their own grim record of terrorism and human rights abuses.” He added that the groups are “saying the right things now.”

“But as they take on greater responsibility, we will assess not just their words, but their actions,” Biden said.

A senior Biden administration official, when asked about contact with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham leaders after Assad's departure, said Washington was in contact with Syrian groups of all kinds. The official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the situation and spoke on condition of anonymity, also said the U.S. has focused over the past several days on chemical weapons that had been controlled by the Assad government, aiming to ensure they were secured.

Still, Assad's fall^[6] adds to an already tense situation throughout much of region on many fronts — including Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza^[7] and its fragile cease-fire with Hezbollah^[8] in Lebanon.

Like Biden, Trump, who takes office in five-plus weeks, made a connection between the upheaval in Syria and Russia's war in Ukraine^[9], noting that Assad's allies in Moscow, as well as in Iran, the main sponsor of Hamas and Hezbollah, “are in a weakened state right now.”

Vice President-elect JD Vance^[10], a veteran of the U.S.-led war in Iraq, wrote on own social media Sunday to express skepticism about the insurgents.

“Many of ‘the rebels’ are a literal offshoot of ISIS. One can hope they’ve moderated. Time will tell,” he said, using another acronym for the group.

Trump has suggested that Assad's ouster can advance the prospects for an end to fighting in Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia in February 2022.

The president-elect wrote that Putin's government “lost all interest in Syria because of Ukraine” and the Republican called for an immediate cease-fire, a day after meeting in Paris with the French and Ukrainian leaders^[11].

Daniel B. Shapiro, a deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, said the American military presence will continue in eastern Syria but was “solely to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS and has nothing to do with other aspects of this conflict.”

“We call on all parties in Syria to protect civilians, particularly those from Syria’s minority communities to respect international military norms and to work to achieve a resolution to include the political settlement,” Shapiro said.

“Multiple actors in this conflict have a terrible track record to include Assad’s horrific crimes, Russia’s indiscriminate aerial bomb bombardment, Iranian-back militia involvement and the atrocities of ISIS," he added.

Shapiro, however, was careful not to directly say Assad had been deposed by the insurgents.

“If confirmed, no one should shed any tears over the Assad regime,” he said.

As they pushed toward the Syrian capital of Damascus, the opposition freed political detainees from government prisons. The family of missing U.S. journalist Austin Tice^[12] renewed calls to find him.

“To everyone in Syria that hears this, please remind people that we’re waiting for Austin,” Tice’s mother, Debra, said in comments that hostage advocacy groups spread on social media. "We know that when he comes out, he’s going to be fairly dazed & he’s going to need lots of care & direction. Direct him to his family please!”

Tice disappeared in 2012 outside Damascus, amid intensification of what became a civil war stretching more than a decade.

"We’ve remained committed to returning him to his family,” Biden said at the White House. "We believe he’s alive, we think we can get him back but we have no direct evidence to that yet. And Assad should be held accountable.”

The president added: “We have to identify where he is."

The U.S. has no new evidence that Tice is alive but continues to operate under the assumption that he is, according to a U.S. official. The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly, added that the U.S. will continue to work to identify Tice's whereabouts and to try to bring him home .

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Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Manama, Bahrain, and Aamer Madhani and AP White House Correspondent Zeke Miller contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Military leaders are rattled by a list of “woke” senior officers that a conservative group urged Pete Hegseth to dismiss for promoting diversity in the ranks if he is confirmed^[1] to lead the Pentagon.

The list compiled by the American Accountability Foundation^[2] includes 20 general officers or senior admirals and a disproportionate number of female officers. It has had a chilling effect on the Pentagon’s often frank discussions as leaders try to figure out how to address the potential firings and diversity issues under President-elect Donald Trump.

Those on the list in many cases seem to be targeted for public comments they made either in interviews or at events on diversity, and in some cases for retweeting posts that promote diversity.

Tom Jones, a former aide to Republican senators who leads the foundation, said Friday that those on the list are “pretty egregious” advocates for diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, policies, which he called problematic.

“The nominee has been pretty clear that that has no place in the military,” Jones said of Hegseth.

Hegseth has embraced Trump’s effort to end programs that promote diversity in the ranks and fire those who reflect those values. Other Trump picks, like Kash Patel for FBI director, have suggested targeting those in government who are not aligned with Trump.

But Hegseth has been fighting to save his nomination as he faces allegations of excessive drinking and sexual assault^[3] and over his views questioning the role of women in combat. He spent the week on Capitol Hill trying to win the support of Republican senators, who must confirm him to lead the Pentagon, doing a radio interview and penning an opinion column.

Some service members have complained in the past about the Pentagon's DEI programs, saying they add to an already heavy workload. The Pentagon still has a long way to go in having a general officer corps or specialty occupations such as pilots that have a racial and gender makeup reflective of the country.

A defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the list said senior leaders are hoping that once Trump is sworn in, they will be able to discuss the issue further. They are prepared to provide additional context to the incoming administration, the official told The Associated Press, which is not publishing the names to protect service members’ privacy.

Former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Friday that the list would have “considerable, wide and deep consequences.” He said when military members see people singled out, they will start focusing on their own survival rather than the mission or their job.

“You will drive people out,” Hagel said. “It affects morale as widely and deeply as anything — it creates a negative dynamic that will trickle through an organization."

The list, which was first reported by The New York Post, includes nine Air Force general officers, seven Navy admirals of different ranks and four Army general officers. Eight of those 20 are women even though only 17% of the military is female. None are Marines.

One female Navy officer was named because she gave a speech at a 2015 Women’s Equality Day event, where she noted that 80% of Congress is male, which affects what bills move forward. The officer also was targeted because she said “diversity is our strength.”

The phrase is a widely distributed talking point that officers across the Pentagon have used for years to talk about the importance of having a military that reflects different educational, geographic, economic, gender and racial backgrounds in the country.

An Air Force colonel, who is white, was called out for an opinion piece he wrote following the death of George Floyd, saying, “Dear white colonel, we must address our blind spots about race.”

A female Air Force officer was targeted because of “multiple woke posts” on her X feed, including a tweet about LGBTQ rights, one about “whiteness” and another about honoring the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on a stamp.

Another female Air Force officer was on the list because she “served as a panelist for a diversity, equity and inclusion” discussion in 2021.

The list names an Army officer who traveled to 14 historically Black colleges to expand the military’s intelligence recruitment efforts, and an Air Force officer partly because he co-chairs the Asian-Pacific Islander subgroup of the service’s diversity task force.

Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the Trump transition team, said in a statement that “No policy should be deemed official unless it comes directly from President Trump.”

But in an interview Wednesday for Megyn Kelly’s SiriusXM satellite radio show, Hegseth said Trump told him he wanted a “warfighter” who would clean out the “woke crap.”

Hegseth got a boost Friday from Trump, who posted on his social media site^[4] that Hegseth “will be a fantastic, high energy, Secretary of Defense.” The president-elect added that “Pete is a WINNER, and there is nothing that can be done to change that!!!”

Jones told the AP in June that his American Accountability Foundation was investigating scores of federal employees suspected of being hostile to Trump's policies. The work aligns with the Heritage Foundation’s far-reaching Project 2025 blueprint for a conservative administration.

A letter Jones sent to Hegseth containing the list, dated Tuesday, says “purging the woke from the military is imperative.” The letter points to tensions with Iran, Russia and China and says “we cannot afford to have a military distracted and demoralized by leftist ideology. Our nation’s security is at stake.”

Conservatives view the federal workforce as overstepping its role to become a power center that can drive or thwart a president’s agenda. During the first Trump administration, government officials came under attack from the White House and congressional Republicans, as Trump's own Cabinet often raised objections to some of his more singular or even unlawful proposals.

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AP writer Courtney Bonnell contributed from Washington.