United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday said the chemical attack in Syria had crossed “a lot of lines” for him. Trump blamed the Bashar al-Assad government for the “heinous” attack and added that it was an “affront to humanity”, The Guardian reported. The president, however, did not clearly say what the United States planned to do in the matter.
The chemical attack in Idlib province has killed more than 70 people, and left several others ill. At a media conference in the White House Rose Garden, Trump said the incident had changed his opinion of Bashar al-Assad.
“I will tell you that attack on children yesterday had a big impact on me – big impact,” Trump said. “My attitude toward Syria and Assad has changed very much …You’re now talking about a whole different level.”
Trump also blamed the Barack Obama administration for not having defused the crisis. “These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the last administration’s weakness and irresolution,” Trump had said. “President Obama had said in 2012 that he would establish a ‘red line’ against the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing.”
Asked whether he would consider military intervention to remove Assad, Trump acknowledged that he had a “responsibility” but added, “I am not saying I am doing anything one way or another, but I am certainly not going to be telling you…Militarily, I do not like to say where I am going and what I am doing.”
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