President Donald Trump's recent talk of withdrawing American troops from Syria emboldened Syrian President Bashar Assad to apparently launch another chemical attack, Sen. John McCain said on Sunday.
The Arizona Republican, who is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, released a statement that "President Trump last week signaled to the world that the United States would prematurely withdraw from Syria. Bashar Assad and his Russian and Iranian backers have heard him, and emboldened by American inaction, Assad has reportedly launched another chemical attack against innocent men, women and children."
McCain said that Trump should respond militarily, as he did last year following a report of a similar attack by Assad's forces.
"President Trump was quick to call out Assad today, along with the Russian and Iranian governments, on Twitter," he said. "The question now is whether he will do anything about it. The President responded decisively when Assad used chemical weapons last year. He should do so again and demonstrate that Assad will pay a price for his war crimes."
McCain conceded that that "Trump inherited bad options after years of inaction by his predecessor in Syria," but insisted that "no one should believe we are out of options. We can and should change course – starting with a comprehensive strategy that lays out clear objectives for our mission there. It's not too late to stop Assad's impunity and begin to rewrite this terrible chapter in our history."
Dozens of people were killed in an alleged chemical weapons attack on a hospital in Douma on Saturday, according to The Hill.
The attack followed statements by Trump in in recent weeks signaling that he wants to bring American troops home from Syria "very soon," since ISIS has almost entirely been defeated.
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