Amid reports of another potential chemical attack in Syria killing at least 70 and President Donald Trump tweeting "President [Vladimir] Putin, Russia, and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad," Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., called for an "international response."
"Clearly, there needs to be a response – it needs to be an international response," Sen. Cardin told CBS's "Face the Nation." "This is against international norms.
". . . first and foremost, President [Bashar al] Assad needs to be held accountable for his war crimes."
Cardin, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, stressed joint efforts both internationally and domestically in Congress "to hold them responsible" for the killings.
"Sen. [Marco] Rubio [R-Fla.] and I have introduced legislation that passed our committee that would hold the evidence accountable we need to make sure that there is a proceeding started by the international community to hold them responsible," Cardin told host Margaret Brennan. "This is not the first use of chemical weapons.
"Secondly, Congress passed very strong sanctions against both Russia and Iran. The Syrian regime under President Assad cannot exist without Russia's support and the activities of Iran. The United States, the international community need to take action against Russia and Iran for what they're doing in Syria. So, we need to take a pretty strong response for another use of chemical weapons."
Cardin said President Assad's closing off of the area will make it difficult for the U.S. and the international community to gather evidence against the Syrian government's potential use of chemical weapons, but Congress will get to work upon its return from Easter break Monday.
"I hope that we will get a full briefing on the use of these chemical weapons," Cardin told Brennan. "Unfortunately, there's not a lot known because the Syrian regime has closed the area. So, we were not going to have the direct information. So, it will be challenging for us to know.
"Everything points to that this was controlled by President Assad and the again violation of international norms, and there needs to be an international response."