Trump considers military strikes in Syria after gas horror

By DAVID MARTOSKO | Daily Mail | 

US president Donald Trump is weighing the possibility of launching military strikes against Syria, and calling out strongman Bashar al-Assad for this week’s horrific chemical weapons attack.

And his secretary of state Rex Tillerson told reporters Thursday that the U.S. is already exploring the enlistment of an international coalition to oust Assad.

‘What Assad did is terrible,’ the president told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Florida, where he will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

He called the use of sarin poison gas an ‘egregious crime’ and said ‘it shouldn’t have happened. And it shouldn’t be allowed to happen.’

The president was evasive on the question of what the U.S. might do about the 72 confirmed dead and countless more who suffered injuries, however.

‘I think what happened in Syria is a disgrace to humanity,’ Trump said, ‘and he’s there, and I guess he’s running things, so I guess something should happen.’

His secretary of state, however, was less diplomatic, describing a long-term effort to remove the Syrian leader from power.

‘The process by which Assad would leave,’ Rex Tillerson told reporters, ‘is something that I think requires an international community effort, both to first defeat ISIS within Syria, to stabilize the Syrian country to avoid further civil war, and then to work collectively with our partners around the world through a political process that would lead to Assad leaving.’

Asked if he and Trump planned to organize such a group of nations, Tillerson paused and then said: ‘Those steps are underway.’

Trump also said aboard Air Force One that reports that he has told members of Congress about a plan for military action were inaccurate, according to a television pool report.

CBS News describes a military briefing in Trump’s future as a discussion between the president and Defense Secretary James Mattis that will include talk of cruise missile strikes from U.S. Navy vessels, possibly aimed at command and control headquarters, suspected chemical weapons facilities – and even Syrian military troops.

CNN had reported three hours earlier that Trump was ‘making calls to senior members of Congress saying he is seriously considering something he said he would never do, not that long ago, which is military action in Syria.’ 

The discussions were said to be exploratory in nature, with no decisions made about a green-light.

But ‘this is now on the table,’ CNN said.

A Trump administration official who was granted anonymity in order to speak freely told DailyMail.com on Thursday that part of the president’s strategy is to ‘telegraph to Assad – and to Russia – that he’s deadly serious.’

It also may be intended to rattle a saber in the direction of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose army also operates out of Syria in defense of Assad’s regime.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is scheduled to meet with Putin next week in Moscow.

Trump said Wednesday during a Rose Garden press conference with Jordan’s King Abdullah that his view of how to handle the Syrian crisis changed when he saw the impact of the ‘heinous’ chemical attack on small children.

‘Yesterday’s chemical attack, a chemical attack that was so horrific in Syria against innocent people, including women, small children and even beautiful little babies – their deaths were an affront to humanity,’ Trump said.

These heinous actions by the Assad regime cannot be tolerated. The United States stands with our allies across the globe to condemn this horrific attack and all other horrific attacks, for that matter,’ the president added.

CNN could not confirm what kinds of targets the Pentagon might strike if Trump and Defense Secretary James Mattis decide to move forward.

But the network did report, based on a congressional source’s information, that Syria only has access to six airstrips for takeoffs and landings.

‘Airstrikes would not be that hard to successfully use to take out at least Syrian air capability,’ that would mean.

The possibility of striking chemical weapons sites is also under consideration.

But John McCain and Lindsey Graham, two Republican senators, said in a statement that an international coalition should collaborate ‘to ground Assad’s air force.’

‘We agree with the President that Assad has crossed a line with his latest use of chemical weapons. The message from the United States must be that this will not stand. We must show that no foreign power can or will protect Assad now. He must pay a punitive cost for this horrific attack,’ they declared.

‘In addition to other measures, the United States should lead an international coalition to ground Assad’s air force. This capability provides Assad a strategic advantage in his brutal slaughter of innocent civilians, both through the use of chemical weapons as well as barrel bombs, which kill far more men, women and children on a daily basis.’

On Tuesday the White House said ousting Assad unilaterally is, at its heart, impractical.

‘There is not a fundamental option of regime change, as there has been in the past,’ press secretary Sean Spicer said.