WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump said Saturday that the United States should avoid engaging militarily in Syria in the middle of an insurrectionary offensive that has reached the suburbs of the capital, declaring in a message on social networks: “THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT”.

Trump’s first in-depth comments on the spectacular rebel push came while he was in Paris for the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral. He argued that Syrian President Bashar Assad did not deserve U.S. support to stay in power.

Assad is allied with Russia and Iranand the Biden administration, which considers the Syrian rebels leading the offensive to be aligned with terrorist organizations, has suggested that their rapid advances toward Damascus demonstrate the extent to which these countries are distracted by war in Ukraine and other conflicts.

The Biden administration also said it did not support the offensive and did not suggest the U.S. military would intervene. The United States has about 900 troops in opposition-controlled northeast Syria and is working with its Syrian Kurdish allies to prevent any resurgence of the Islamic State extremist group.

Syrian opposition activists and regional officials are nevertheless closely watching any indication from the Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration on how the United States would handle the rebels’ sudden advances against Assad.

Also on Saturday, the United Nations special envoy for Syria called for urgent talks in Geneva to ensure an “orderly political transition” in Syria.

In his message, Trump said Russia “is so stuck in Ukraine” that it “seems unable to stop this literal march through Syria, a country it has protected for years.” He said the rebels could eventually force Assad from power.

The president-elect also condemned the general manner in which the United States has handled what amounts to a 13-year war in Syria, but spoke favorably of the rout of Assad and Russian forces.

“Syria is a disaster, but it is not our friend, and the United States should have nothing to do with it. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET HIM PLAY. DON’T GET INVOLVED! he wrote in Saturday’s post.

An influential Syrian opposition activist in Washington, Mouaz Moustafa, interrupted a news conference with reporters to read Trump’s message and appeared to choke up. He said Trump’s declaration that the United States should stay out of the fight was the best outcome Syrians aligned against Assad could hope for.

Rebels have released political detainees of the Assad government from prisons as they advance across Syria, capturing towns. Moustafa promised reporters Saturday that opposition forces would be attentive to any American detainees among them and would do everything possible to protect them.

Moustafa said this includes Austin TiceAmerican journalist missing for more than a decade and suspected of being detained by Assad.