Haley, Sec. of State, at Odds on Syria Strategy

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson appeared to differ with U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley Sunday on the U.S. position on the future of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

"Our priority is first the defeat of [the Islamic State group]... Once we can eliminate the battle against [the Islamic State group], conclude that, and it is going quite well, then we hope to turn our attention to cease-fire agreements between the regime and opposition forces," the secretary emphasized to ABC.

"In that regard, we are hopeful that we can work with Russia and use their influence to achieve areas of stabilization throughout Syria and create the conditions for a political process," he continued. "Through that political process that we believe the Syrian people will lawfully be able to decide the fate of [Assad]."

Leading Republicans, and Democrats in favor of intervention, have been pressed in recent days to explain why the United States should involve itself against both leading factions in the Syrian civil war -- Assad and the Islamic State group.

Tillerson heads to a meeting of the G7 in Italy this week, followed by meetings in Moscow. 

But Haley, who has become an increasingly public face for the administration while Tillerson has kept a lower profile, weighed in less equivocally. 

"We don't see a peaceful Syria with Assad in there," Haley told CNN.

Haley's statement lined up more closely with comments by H.R. McMaster, the national security adviser.

"Regime change is something that we think is going to happen because all of the parties are going to see that Assad is not the leader that needs to be taking place for Syria… There is no political solution that any of us can see with Assad at the lead," McMaster told Fox News on Sunday. 

But he emphasized, vaguely, that it would not be the United States who would "effect that change." 

Critics pounced on the discrepancies and the lack of clarity on the path forward following last week's U.S. strikes on a Syrian air base.

But McMaster's language mirrored rhetoric by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a leading proponent of American military intervention in the region. 

"Regime change comes when we train up Syrians. The Syrians will take care of Assad," Graham told Fox News on Friday. "[The Islamic State group] is a direct threat to the homeland, Assad is not."

Haley, Graham and other conservatives have begun highlighting a side-benefit of ousting Assad: containing the regional influence of Iran, who backs the Syrian president. 

"It's also to get out the Iranian influence, which we think is causing so much friction and worse issues in the area," Haley said. President Donald Trump, as a candidate, and Republicans on Capitol Hill strongly opposed the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.