Russia has challenged President Donald Trump to set out his strategy on Syria after he declared that an apparent chemical weapons attack had transformed his views on the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
Trump, who has previously argued against removing Assad from power, said Wednesday’s attack on a rebel-held town in Syria’s Idlib province was a “heinous” act that “crossed a lot of lines for me.”
But Trump did not offer any details of how US strategy on Syria would change. Nor did he directly criticize Russia, which has stood by Assad in the face of worldwide condemnation of the attack, which killed at least 86 people, including 26 children.
Trump’s Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, said on Wednesday there was “no doubt” that Assad was responsible for the attack and called on Russia to “really think carefully” about its continued support for the regime.
When asked if Russia would reconsider its backing for Assad, Russia’s Foreign Ministry instead challenged the US to show its cards.
“Russia’s approach to Assad is clear. He is the legal president of an independent state. What is the US approach?” ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told CNN in a text message.
Russia is Syria’s most powerful ally and has provided the military might behind Assad’s grip on the country, which plunged into civil war six years ago.
Before Wednesday, Trump had long argued against trying to depose Assad while also fighting ISIS in Syria, despite several previous confirmed reports of chemical attacks carried out by the Syrian regime.
Trump has maintained that the bloodshed in Syria was the result of weak policy under the previous Obama administration. President Barack Obama in 2012 warned Syria that carrying out a chemical attack would cross a red line.
But in 2013, a chemical attack was carried out in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta, in which activists say 1,400 people died. It was blamed on the Syrian regime and prompted Obama to threaten military action.
Trump said on Wednesday that Obama’s failure to follow through with his red line threat “was a blank threat (that) set us back a long ways, not only in Syria but in many other parts of the world.”
Victims saw planes dropping bombs
Several countries have now blamed Syrian regime for carrying out Tuesday’s attack, including the United States, Britain and Turkey.
Turkey’s Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said Thursday that autopsies being carried out in Turkey on the Syrian victims indicated exposure to chemical substances.
Syria denies having ever used chemical weapons and blames “terrorist” groups. Russia has claimed that a Syrian regime airstrike hit a terrorist group’s chemical munition depot, causing the fatalities.
But victims hospitalized told CNN they saw planes drop chemical-laden bombs.
No terrorist or rebel group in Syria is believed to have the capacity to carry out aerial strikes.
Mazin Yusif, a 13-year-old-boy, broke down in tears at the Reyhanli Hospital in southern Turkey near the Syrian border, where about 25 victims have been taken for treatment.
“At 6:30 in the morning, the plane struck. I ran up on our roof and saw that the strike was in front of my grandfather’s house,” Mazin told CNN.
He said he ran toward his house and found his grandfather slumped over. He ran outside to call for help. “I got dizzy and then fainted in front of my grandfather’s garage. I next found myself here in this hospital, naked in a bed.”
Another survivor, Ahmed Abdel Rahim, 31, stared vacantly from his hospital bed while explaining he was hit with a poisonous substance carried by three rockets.
“I was in my house. I had difficulty breathing, but I feel better now. But I did throw up after getting to the hospital. I don’t know if my family is dead or alive. I don’t know anything,” he said.