Mattis Says U.S. Hasn’t Ruled out Action Against Assad

By CNN. The US has not ruled out launching airstrikes against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in response to the weekend’s suspected chemical gas attack on civilians, Defense Secretary James Mattis said Monday.

“I don’t rule out anything right now,” Mattis said while hosting Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, the emir of Qatar, at the Pentagon.

“The first thing we have to look at is why are chemical weapons still being used at all when Russia was the framework guarantor of removing all chemical weapons, and so working with our allies and partners from NATO to Qatar and elsewhere we are going to address this issue,” Mattis continued.

President Donald Trump strongly condemned the “atrocious” chemical weapons attack in Syria during a Cabinet meeting at the White House Monday and said a decision on US action would be made over the next 24-48 hours. (Read more from “Mattis Says U.S. Hasn’t Ruled out Action Against Assad” HERE)

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‘I Don’t Rule Anything Out’: Mattis on Taking Action in Syria

By AFP. US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Monday pointed toward Russia’s role in a suspected poison gas attack on the Syrian rebel-held town of Douma, and said he would not rule out a military response.

Russia was supposed to guarantee the disposal of Syria’s stockpile of chemical weapons in September 2013, but President Bashar al-Assad’s regime is suspected of conducting repeated gas attacks since then.

“The first thing we have to look at is why are chemical weapons still being used at all when Russia was the framework guarantor of removing all the chemical weapons,” Mattis said at the Pentagon in a meeting with his Qatari counterpart.

“Working with our allies and our partners from NATO to Qatar and elsewhere, we are going to address this issue … I don’t rule out anything right now.”

Syria has been accused multiple times of using toxic weapons including sarin gas in the country’s seven-year war, which has killed more than 350,000 people. (Read more from “‘I Don’t Rule Anything Out’: Mattis on Taking Action in Syria” HERE)

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