Trump administration open to additional
strikes on Syria: White House
Send a link to a friend
[April 11, 2017]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S.
President Donald Trump is open to authorizing additional strikes on
Syria if its government uses chemical weapons again or deploys barrel
bombs in the country, the White House said on Monday.
"The sight of people being gassed and blown away by barrel bombs ensures
that if we see this kind of action again, we hold open the possibility
of future action," White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters.
"If you gas a baby, if you put a barrel bomb in to innocent people ...
you will see a response from this president."
Barrel bombs are oil drums or cylinders packed with explosives and
shrapnel.
Trump ordered a cruise missile strike on Syria's Shayrat air base last
week in response to what his administration and U.S. allies say was a
poison gas attack by Syria's military in which scores of civilians,
including many children, died.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Apr/11/images/ads/current/pestcontrol_bch_termites.png)
Spicer said later his mention of barrel bombs as a potential trigger for
further action by the United States did not reflect a change in
position.
"Nothing has changed in our posture," he said by email.
[to top of second column] |
![](../images/041117pics/news_v37.jpg)
U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) conducts
strike operations while in the Mediterranean Sea which U.S. Defense
Department said was a part of cruise missile strike against Syria on
April 7, 2017. Ford Williams/Courtesy U.S. Navy/Handout via
REUTERS/File Photo
![](../images/ads/current/richardson_lda_090916.png)
"The president retains the option to act in Syria against the Assad
regime whenever it is in the national interest, as was determined
following that government's use of chemical weapons against its own
citizens. And as the president has repeatedly made clear, he will
not be telegraphing his military responses."
(Reporting by Jeff Mason; writing by Ayesha Rascoe; Editing by
Jonathan Oatis and James Dalgleish)
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |