BEIRUT (AP) - An American state senator who is visiting the Syrian capital says the United States should show more support for Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Speaking to reporters in Damascus Thursday, Virginia State Senator Dick Black said that it would be "beneficial" for the U.S. to speak directly to Assad.
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He is in Damascus to visit the embattled Syrian president's administration. Black, an outspoken Republican, is a part-time state senator who has no role in official U.S. foreign policy.
U.S. officials have repeatedly said Assad has lost the legitimacy to rule.
Syria's five year civil war, which began in 2011 as an uprising against Assad, has killed more than 250,000 people according to the UN, which stopped counting casualties two years ago.
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