Former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, who served under President Donald Trump, said over the weekend that Russia and Iran were “severely impacted” by the collapse of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s government and his exile to Russia. Esper made the remarks on Sunday during a segment on CNN while discussing the stunning collapse of the regime in just a little over a week. “This is historic, to say the least. This is the regime, the Assad regime, that’s ruled that country brutally for 50-plus years. And now they’re coming to an end,” he said. “From a historical perspective, stepping back a little bit, it’s not unlike what’s happened over the past 20 years across the Arab world, as you look at strongmen, from Moammar Gadhafi in Libya, who was toppled, all the way to Saddam Hussein, who was toppled. And in both cases, those regimes fell apart and the brutality ended.” He said that Russia may no longer have a foothold in the Middle East as a result of the collapse. “And, of course, Iran, I think, is most severely impacted by this,” he said. “They will now lose their air and ground routes through Syria that used to supply the Hezbollah in Lebanon, so very significant for those countries on a major basis.” CHECK OUT THE DAILY WIRE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE “And for other countries in the region — Jordan, Turkey, others — they will now see the return of millions of refugees who have been housed in their countries for years, hopefully for them returning to Syria,” he continued. He said that there was a concern about weapons, including chemical weapons, from Assad’s military falling into the hands of the terrorist rebels. “We don’t want it to look like the ISIS caliphate. So that’d be another immediate concern,” he said. “We don’t want it to look like the Taliban rule. We don’t want it to look like a theocracy in Iran.” He added that he believes that Trump’s assessment of the situation, that the U.S. should not get involved, is completely correct. “I agree. I don’t see that role right now to do that,” he said. “Donald Trump is always consistent, if there’s one thing, that he did not want to get involved in wars. So I think we should take him at his word on that.” WATCH: Former Trump Defense Secretary @MarkTEsper tells @jaketapper that “Iran is most severely impacted” by the collapse of the Assad regime and says the big question is “who is going to govern Syria and what will it look like?” pic.twitter.com/4BLh8TygpU — State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) December 8, 2024