The US says that it does not expect Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad to leave his position before March 2017, Associated Press reports. This would mean that Assad, who took over the country upon his father's death in 2000, would outlast Obama's term as president.
This estimate is based on an internal timeline US officials prepared for a best-case scenario in handling the Syrian civil war. A spokesperson for the State Department dismissed the story by calling the timeline a "staff-level think piece" that is not "an official position."
The spokesperson added that it is "not an accurate projection of plans by the international community to effect a political transition in Syria."