Sean Spicer apologizes for comparing Assad with Hitler
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has apologized for comparing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
While intensifying his criticism of the Syrian leader during a press briefing on Tuesday, Spicer suggested that President Assad was guilty of acts worse than Hitler’s atrocities and asserted that the former chancellor of Germany had not used chemical weapons during World War II.
"You had someone as despicable as Hitler who didn't even sink to using chemical weapons," the White House spokesman said, ignoring the use of gas chambers at concentration camps during the Holocaust.
The generally accepted position asserts that six million European Jews were killed by the Nazis and their World War II collaborators, but some revisionist historians dispute the six million figure, insisting it is massively exaggerated.
Spicer's comments drew an intense backlash from Jewish circles in the United States and some even demanded his resignation.
A few hours later, a subdued Spicer appeared on CNN and apologized for comparing the Syrian leader with Hitler.
"Frankly, I mistakenly used an inappropriate and insensitive comment about the Holocaust and there is no comparison," he stated.
"For that I apologize. It was a mistake to do that,” he added.
Secretary Spicer's apology quite clearly seems to be directed at appeasing his Jewish critics rather than at correcting his unsubstantiated allegations against President Assad, who has been facing a US-led proxy war against his government since 2011.
In recent months, the Syrian army, backed by the Russian air power, has been making major gains against foreign-sponsored terrorist groups, recapturing several strategic areas from their grip, particularly in the strategic northern province of Aleppo.
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