Trump says US 'cannot allow' Syrian chemical weapons attacks
By Jeremy Diamond and Noah Gray, CNN
Updated 1930 GMT (0330 HKT) April 9, 2018
Trump: We'll find out who is behind attack
Voices from Syria's Eastern Ghouta
American mother trapped ghouta syria karadsheh pkg _00002401.jpg
American mother trapped in Eastern Ghouta
A Syrian woman and children run for cover amid the rubble of buildings following government bombing in the rebel-held town of Hamouria, in the besieged Eastern Ghouta region on the outskirts of the capital Damascus, on February 19, 2018. Heavy Syrian bombardment killed 44 civilians in rebel-held Eastern Ghouta, as regime forces appeared to prepare for an imminent ground assault. /
Eastern Ghouta suffers deadliest day in 3 years
A picture taken on February 3, 2018, shows smoke billowing from the site of a downed Sukhoi-25 fighter jet in Syria's northwest province of Idlib. Rebel fighters shot down a Russian plane over Syria's northwest Idlib province and captured its pilot, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. / AFP PHOTO / OMAR HAJ KADOUR / The erroneous mention[s] appearing in the metadata of this photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: [in Syria's northwest province of Idlib.] instead of [near the Syrian city of Saraqib, southwest of Aleppo.]. Please immediately remove the erroneous mention[s] from all your online services and delete it (them) from your servers. If you have been authorized by AFP to distribute it (them) to third parties, please ensure that the same actions are carried out by them. Failure to promptly comply with these instructions will entail liability on your part for any continued or post notification usage. Therefore we thank you very much for all your attention and prompt action. We are sorry for the inconvenience this notification may cause and remain at your disposal for any further information you may require. (Photo credit should read OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP/Getty Images)
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Is Idlib the next Aleppo?
A man carries a young girl who was injured in a reported barrel-bomb attack by government forces on June 3, 2014 in Kallaseh district in the northern city of Aleppo. Some 2,000 civilians, including more than 500 children, have been killed in regime air strikes on rebel-held areas of Aleppo since January, many of them in barrel bomb attacks. AFP PHOTO / BARAA AL-HALABI (Photo credit should read BARAA AL-HALABI/AFP/Getty Images)
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Wounded Syrians and their families gather at the rebel-held al-Amiriyah neighbourhood as they wait to be evacuated to the government-controlled area of Ramoussa on the southern outskirts of the city on December 15, 2016. Russia, Syrian military sources and rebel officials confirmed that a new agreement had been reached after a first evacuation plan collapsed the day before amid fresh fighting. Syrian state television reported that some 4,000 rebels and their families were to be evacuated. / AFP / KARAM AL-MASRI (Photo credit should read KARAM AL-MASRI/AFP/Getty Images)
Why is Aleppo so important in Syria?
trump syria cabinet meeting
Trump: We'll find out who is behind attack
This image released early Sunday, April 8, 2018 by the Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets, shows a child receiving oxygen through respirators following an alleged poison gas attack in the rebel-held town of Douma, near Damascus, Syria. Syrian rescuers and medics said the attack on Douma killed at least 40 people. The Syrian government denied the allegations, which could not be independently verified. The alleged attack in Douma occurred Saturday night amid a resumed offensive by Syrian government forces after the collapse of a truce. (Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets via AP)
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Voices from Syria's Eastern Ghouta
American mother trapped ghouta syria karadsheh pkg _00002401.jpg
American mother trapped in Eastern Ghouta
A Syrian woman and children run for cover amid the rubble of buildings following government bombing in the rebel-held town of Hamouria, in the besieged Eastern Ghouta region on the outskirts of the capital Damascus, on February 19, 2018. Heavy Syrian bombardment killed 44 civilians in rebel-held Eastern Ghouta, as regime forces appeared to prepare for an imminent ground assault. / AFP PHOTO / ABDULMONAM EASSA (Photo credit should read ABDULMONAM EASSA/AFP/Getty Images)
Eastern Ghouta suffers deadliest day in 3 years
A picture taken on February 3, 2018, shows smoke billowing from the site of a downed Sukhoi-25 fighter jet in Syria's northwest province of Idlib. Rebel fighters shot down a Russian plane over Syria's northwest Idlib province and captured its pilot, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. / AFP PHOTO / OMAR HAJ KADOUR / The erroneous mention[s] appearing in the metadata of this photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: [in Syria's northwest province of Idlib.] instead of [near the Syrian city of Saraqib, southwest of Aleppo.]. Please immediately remove the erroneous mention[s] from all your online services and delete it (them) from your servers. If you have been authorized by AFP to distribute it (them) to third parties, please ensure that the same actions are carried out by them. Failure to promptly comply with these instructions will entail liability on your part for any continued or post notification usage. Therefore we thank you very much for all your attention and prompt action. We are sorry for the inconvenience this notification may cause and remain at your disposal for any further information you may require. (Photo credit should read OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP/Getty Images)
Russian plane shot down in Syria
Eastern Ghouta's 15-year-old 'war reporter'
Is Idlib the next Aleppo?
A man carries a young girl who was injured in a reported barrel-bomb attack by government forces on June 3, 2014 in Kallaseh district in the northern city of Aleppo. Some 2,000 civilians, including more than 500 children, have been killed in regime air strikes on rebel-held areas of Aleppo since January, many of them in barrel bomb attacks. AFP PHOTO / BARAA AL-HALABI (Photo credit should read BARAA AL-HALABI/AFP/Getty Images)
Life in Syria: Scenes beyond belief
Kassem Eid
Syria attack survivor's plea to Trump
Wounded Syrians and their families gather at the rebel-held al-Amiriyah neighbourhood as they wait to be evacuated to the government-controlled area of Ramoussa on the southern outskirts of the city on December 15, 2016. Russia, Syrian military sources and rebel officials confirmed that a new agreement had been reached after a first evacuation plan collapsed the day before amid fresh fighting. Syrian state television reported that some 4,000 rebels and their families were to be evacuated. / AFP / KARAM AL-MASRI (Photo credit should read KARAM AL-MASRI/AFP/Getty Images)
Why is Aleppo so important in Syria?
trump syria cabinet meeting
Trump: We'll find out who is behind attack
This image released early Sunday, April 8, 2018 by the Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets, shows a child receiving oxygen through respirators following an alleged poison gas attack in the rebel-held town of Douma, near Damascus, Syria. Syrian rescuers and medics said the attack on Douma killed at least 40 people. The Syrian government denied the allegations, which could not be independently verified. The alleged attack in Douma occurred Saturday night amid a resumed offensive by Syrian government forces after the collapse of a truce. (Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets via AP)
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Video shows Syrians affected by chemical attack
Syrian civil war
Teens' graffiti ignited 7 years of civil war
boy 7 years war in syria
Syria's lost generation
Bashar Al-Assad
Syrian president rules unapologetically
Voices from Syria's Eastern Ghouta
Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump said Monday he will make a decision as early as this evening on the US response to what he called an "atrocious" chemical weapons attack on civilians in Syria and warned that he will hold the responsible parties accountable.
"We cannot allow atrocities like that. Cannot allow it," Trump told reporters on Monday during a Cabinet meeting as he warned that "nothing's off the table." "If it's Russia, if it's Syria, if it's Iran, if it's all of them together, we'll figure it out and we'll know the answers quite soon."
Pressed on Russia's role in the suspected chemical weapons attack, Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin -- who backs the Syrian regime -- "may" bear responsibility.
"He may. And if he does, it's gonna be very tough. Very tough," Trump said of the US response. "Everybody's gonna pay a price. He will and everybody will."
Russia blames Israel for strikes on Syrian airbase
Russia blames Israel for strikes on Syrian airbase
The Syrian government and Russia have vehemently denied involvement in the attack and accused rebels in Douma of fabricating the chemical attack claims in order to hinder the army's advances and provoke international military intervention.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday that his country had sent experts to Douma and that there was "no trace" of the use of chemical weapons there.
Trump's comments are his first public remarks on the attack, which killed dozens of civilians, since he tweeted about it on Sunday and warned of a "big price to pay" for those responsible. His statement comes almost exactly a year after he fired 59 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian airbase in response to a chemical weapons attack against civilians.
Trump said the US is still working to determine who is directly responsible for the attack, which was widely publicized in recent days after graphic on the ground footage of victims was shown around the world. Trump said his decision could come as early as the end of Monday or within the next 48 hours.
Mattis says US hasn't ruled out military action against Assad
Mattis says US hasn't ruled out military action against Assad
"I'd like to begin by condemning the heinous attack on innocent Syrians with banned chemical weapons," Trump said. "It was an atrocious attack, it was horrible. You don't see things like that as bad as the news is around the world, you just don't see those images."
"We are very concerned, when a thing like that can happen, this is about humanity. We're talking about humanity. And it can't be allowed to happen," he added.
Trump expressed frustration at investigators not being able to get immediate answers about who was behind the attack and said the US is working "to get people in there."
The attack comes about a week after Trump told military leaders to draw up plans to prepare a withdrawal of the remaining US troops from Syria. Pressed Monday on whether those plans still stand, Trump simply told reporters: "We're gonna make a decision on all of that, in particular Syria, we'll be making that decision very quickly, probably by the end of today."
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Monday that the President still wants to pull US troops from Syria once ISIS is defeated there and rejected the notion that his comments about a future withdrawal may have emboldened the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
"The President wants to bring our troops home after we complete the mission to eradicate ISIS in Syria. At the same time he wants to make sure Assad is deterred from chemical weapons attacks on innocent civilians. Signaling we want to remove our troops in no way degrades our ability to hold parties responsible," Sanders said.
Sanders said "the only individuals" responsible for the suspected chemical attack "don't reside in this country."
"I think that it is outrageous to say that the President of the United States greenlit something as atrocious as the actions that have taken place over the last couple of days," Sanders said.
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/04/09/politics/donald-trump-syria-attack/index.html
