Trump said the attack in Syria’s Idlib province was “reprehensible and cannot be ignored by the civilized world,” although he also sought to blame his predecessor, Barack Obama.
“These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the last administration’s weakness and irresolution,” Trump said in a statement. “President Obama said in 2012 that he would establish a ‘red line’ against the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing.”
The Syrian military denied responsibility and said it would never use chemical weapons.
The chemical weapons attack on Tuesday, which killed scores of people, including children, came a week after both Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said their focus in Syria was on stopping Daesh militants rather than pushing Assad to leave power.
A senior Trump administration official said on Tuesday the government was looking at policy options after the attack in Idlib but that the options were limited and that the views expressed by Tillerson and Haley still held.
“Nothing has changed in terms of that dynamic. Our ability to get rid of him doesn’t rise because he does something terrible,” the official said.
France’s foreign minister said the suspected chemical weapons attack was a way of testing the Trump administration and urged Washington to clarify its position on Assad.
“The question is to know, yes or no, whether the Americans support a political transition in Syria, which means organizing this transition, elections and that at the end of the process the question of Assad’s departure is asked,” Jean-Marc Ayrault told RTL radio.
A member of the Syrian opposition said the attack was a “direct consequence” of the recent US statements on Assad.
Another senior US official said Saudi Arabia and Turkey, both key allies against Daesh, had indicated the militant group was a higher priority than ousting Assad and that his removal would only add to the chaos in the region.
