Joe Biden repeatedly confused Syria with Libya while discussing ways of working with Russia during a press conference at the G7 on Sunday.
The 78-year-old gaffe machine spoke of working with Vladimir Putin to provide economic assistance to the people of Libya, prompting some confused glances from the press pack at the G7 summit in Cornwall, England.
‘I’m hopeful that we can find an accommodation where we can save the lives of people in — for example, in — in Libya,’ the president said, mentioning the north African country for the third time instead of Syria, which is in the Middle East. The White House later brushed the confusion off, confirming that the president was indeed referring to Syria, the country where Russia and the US have been involved in a decade-long civil war.
WATCH: Joe Biden confuses Syria with Libya THREE TIMES. pic.twitter.com/8iewTindfr
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 13, 2021
Some had guessed that he was confused when he mentioned Libya, which most would not put at the top of a list when sitting down to negotiate with Putin.
Although there are similarities between the two countries – both have been plagued by civil war, Islamism and seen the military intervention of Washington and Moscow – these are only surface issues. Lebanese geopolitical commentator Sarah Abdallah tweeted: ‘I guess when you’re bombing so many countries at once, it’s hard to keep up.’
The blunder came days after he called Britain’s Royal Air Force the ‘RFA’ while addressing US military personnel at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk during his first-ever speech as President on British soil.
