Should the US be part of solution in Syria or leave?. MSNBC. Columbia University professor and special adviser to the United Nations, Jeffrey Sachs, stated: "[T]hey sent in the CIA to overthrow Assad. The CIA and Saudi Arabia together in covert operations tried to overthrow Assad. It was a disaster. Eventually, it brought in both ISIS, as a splinter group to the Jihadists that went in. It also brought in Russia ... We started a war to overthrow a regime. It was covert. it was Timber Sycamore, people can look it up, the CIA operation."