President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis strongly suggested Wednesday that the U.S. would take action against Syria for an alleged chemical attack against civilians, but both stopped short of specifying the use of military force. "Militarily, I don't like to say where I'm going, what I'm doing," Trump said at a joint White House news conference with Jordan's King Abdullah II. "I'm not saying what I'm doing one way or the other," Trump said, but added that the scenes of writhing and dead children following the attack Tuesday had profoundly changed his attitude toward the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
At the Pentagon, Mattis said the suspected chemical attack in the northern Syrian province of Idlib was "a heinous act and will be treated as such." He did not elaborate or respond to further questions at a meeting with Singaporean Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen. Mattis has sought and been granted approval by Trump for an accelerated campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, but the administration's position on Assad and the Russian support for the regime has been unclear. Any military action against Assad's forces would risk hitting Russian troops, who are closely intertwined with the regime's military.
Outside the northeastern Syrian city of Manbij, Russian troops are on the ground with regime forces and within sight of a small contingent of Army Rangers sent to the town as a "visible presence" to prevent a takeover, according to Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander of Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve. In the past, Trump has said he is open to the possibility of declaring and defending safe zones inside Syria for refugees, but the U.S. military has consistently warned of the cost and difficulty of taking on that responsibility amid the six-year-old civil war that has killed more than 400,000 and displaced an estimated 10 million.
Earlier this week, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that Assad remaining in power is a matter for the Syrian people to decide. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said, "There is a political reality that we have to accept" in terms of Assad's position. However, Trump said at the joint news conference that "my attitude toward Syria and Assad has changed" as the result of the alleged chemical attack. "I like to think of myself as a flexible person. I do change, and I'm flexible. That attack on children yesterday had a big impact on me." As he has previously, Trump blamed the crisis in Syria on former President Barack Obama and his failure to take action after stating that a chemical attack would be a "red line" requiring a military response. At the time, Trump tweeted that "there is no upside, tremendous downside" to taking military action against Syria.
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