Trump’s Actions on Assad’s Latest Gas Attack Must Match His Strong Words

Trump and I are in agreement here.

Syria’s Bashar al-Assad is an animal.

In a pair of tweets Sunday morning, President Trump condemned a deadly chemical attack on the rebel-held city of Douma in Eastern Ghouta, Syria, and blamed Russia and Iran, directly, for supporting Assad’s regime. Dozens were reported killed in the attack.

That’s certainly a change of heart from 2013.

So maybe rethink your earlier suggesting of pulling out of Syria and leaving a hole that would surely be filled by Russia, Iran, and a resurgence of ISIS? I mean, you wouldn’t want it to appear that you’re a hypocrite, or that you don’t know what you’re doing.

Syria’s state news agency denied allegations that the Assad regime was behind the attack, saying reports were a “blatant attempt to hinder the army’s advance” into a “collapsing terrorist” stronghold, CNN reported.

The U.S. State Department said in a statement that it had seen “multiple, very disturbing reports this afternoon regarding another possible CW (chemical weapons) attack near a hospital in Douma, Syria.”

The State Department issued a statement, calling for Assad and his backers – Russia and Iran – to be held accountable.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert very specifically called out Russia.

“Russia, with its unwavering support for the regime, ultimately bears responsibility for these brutal attacks, targeting of countless civilians, and the suffocation of Syria’s most vulnerable communities with chemical weapons,” she said, adding that the Kremlin has breached certain United Nations commitments.

Good. Call them out. They’re not our friends. They’re not anyone’s friends and this point needs to be driven home, over and over again.

For their part, Russia is in full denial mode.

“The spread of bogus stories about the use of chlorine and other poisonous substances by (Syrian) government forces continues. Yet another such fabricated piece of information about an alleged chemical attack in Douma appeared yesterday,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Liars.

This isn’t even the first attack by Syria on its own people.

In April 2017 a Sarin gas attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun killed over 80 people. It earned 59 U.S. tomahawk missile strikes against a Syrian airbase.

We may have another 59 to spare.

Somewhere around 400,000 Syrians are estimated to have lost their lives in this 8 year civil war. The weakness of the former president was as damaging as suggesting that we now pull out.

There’s a red line, and it has been crossed far too many times to ignore.

Our humanity demands action.

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