Trump says chemical attack in Syria crossed many lines

Reuters: US President Donald Trump accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s Government of going “beyond a red line” with a poison gas attack on civilians and said his attitude toward Syria and Assad had changed, but gave no indication of how he would respond.

Trump said the attack, which killed at least 70 people, many of them children, “crosses many, many lines”, an allusion to his predecessor Barack Obama’s threat to topple Assad with air strikes if he used such weapons. His accusations against Assad put him directly at odds with Moscow, the Syrian president’s principal backer.

“I will tell you, what happened yesterday is unacceptable to me,” Trump told reporters at a news conference with Jordan’s King Abdullah on Wednesday.

“And I will tell you, it’s already happened that my attitude toward Syria and Assad has changed very much,” though when asked at an earlier meeting whether he was formulating a new policy on Syria, Trump said: “You’ll see.”

Vice President Mike Pence, when asked whether it was time to renew the call for Assad to be ousted and safe zones be established, told Fox News: “But let me be clear, all options are on the table,” without elaborating.

US officials rejected Russia’s assertion that Syrian rebels were to blame for the attack.

Trump’s comments, which came just a few days after Washington said it was no longer focused on making Assad leave power, suggested a clash between the Kremlin and Trump’s White House after initial signals of warmer ties. Trump did not mention Russia in his comments on Wednesday but Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said it was time for Russia to think carefully about its support for Assad.

Pence said the time had come for Moscow to “keep the word that they made to see to the elimination of chemical weapons so that they no longer threaten the people in that country.”

Western countries, including the United States, blamed Assad’s armed forces for the worst chemical attack in Syria for more than four years.

US intelligence officials, based on a preliminary assessment, said the deaths were most likely caused by sarin nerve gas dropped by Syrian aircraft on the town of Khan Sheikhoun on Tuesday. A senior State Department official said Washington had not yet ascertained it was sarin.

Moscow offered an alternative explanation that would shield Assad: that the poison gas belonged to rebels and had leaked from an insurgent weapons depot hit by Syrian bombs.

Russia says too early to accuse Syrian Government over gas attack

Reuters: The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday it was too early to accuse the Syrian Government of being responsible for a deadly poison gas attack in Idlib Province and said a proper investigation was needed, the RIA news agency reported.

The ministry also rejected US assertions that the attack, which killed at least 70 people, meant a deal to rid the country of its chemical weapons stockpile had failed, saying that the process had in fact been “quite successful,” RIA reported. US President Donald Trump accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s Government of going “beyond a red line” with the attack on civilians and said his attitude toward Syria and Assad had changed, but gave no indication of how he would respond.

Russia has suggested it will publicly stand by Assad however and says the chemical incident was likely caused by a leak from a depot controlled by Syrian rebels.

UK says important to pass UN resolution on Syria

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Thursday a United Nations resolution should be passed before any unilateral action was taken in Syria.

“It is very important to try first to get out a UN resolution,” Johnson told reporters in Sarajevo.

“I cannot understand how anybody on UN Security Council could fail to sign up to a motion condemning the actions of the regime that is almost certainly responsible for that crime,” Johnson told reporters.

Autopsy results show chemical weapons used in Syrian attack: Turkey

Reuters: Autopsy results have revealed that chemical weapons were used in an attack which killed at least 70 people in Syria’s Idlib province, Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag told reporters on Thursday.

Thirty-two victims of Tuesday’s attack have been brought to Turkey and three have subsequently died.

US President Donald Trump accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s Government of going “beyond a red line” with the poison gas attack on civilians and said his attitude toward Syria and Assad had changed.