Syrian strike 'soon or not,' Trump teases

Defense chief wary on risk of war; no decision made yet

Defense Secretary James Mattis (left) testifies Thursday at a hearing of the Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill. He is joined by Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford.
Defense Secretary James Mattis (left) testifies Thursday at a hearing of the Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill. He is joined by Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford.

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump said Thursday that a decision on U.S. action in Syria would come "very soon or not so soon," signaling a slowing of what had seemed a quick drive for airstrikes in retaliation for the suspected use of chemical weapons against Syrian civilians.

Defense Secretary James Mattis also raised caution flags Thursday, musing aloud about the risks of an escalating war even as he told Congress that the Pentagon would present options for a Syria response at a National Security Council meeting Thursday, at which the White House said no decisions had been made.

"Never said when an attack on Syria would take place. Could be very soon or not so soon at all!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

That walked back a Trump tweet Wednesday that announced strikes "are coming," and warned Syrian ally Russia against trying to shoot the U.S. missiles down.

That taunt took allies and administration officials by surprise and alarmed some military officials who are advocating a deliberate approach that draws in allies and presents a clear case for why U.S. action is warranted, U.S. officials said on condition of anonymity because the internal discussions are continuing.

Mattis seemed to acknowledge those qualms. With Russia and Iran heavily invested in Syrian President Bashar Assad's survival, Mattis suggested the Pentagon would advise caution in discussing possible actions with the president.

"We're trying to stop the murder of innocent people, but, on a strategic level, it's how do we keep this from escalating out of control, if you get my drift on that," the retired four-star Marine general said.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders issued a statement late Thursday, after the meeting with Mattis and national security advisers.

"No final decision has been made," on Syria, Sanders said. "We are continuing to assess intelligence and are engaged in conversations with our partners and allies," Sanders said, adding that Trump planned to speak with French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Theresa May later in the evening.

Separately, a senior U.S. official said top Pentagon brass have argued that quick military action may have unintended consequences, including with Russia. Officials further contended that Trump could look weak if -- like a unilateral military strike on Syria a year ago -- a new attack failed to deter Assad.

The possibility of missile strikes has been floated since the deaths of 43 people, including children, from what the United States has called a poison-gas attack last weekend on the rebel-held town of Douma, in Damascus' eastern Ghouta suburbs.

Trump's ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, told NBC News on Thursday that the administration has "enough proof" of the chemical attack but was still considering its response.

Trump's options include the sort of limited response he ordered last year in response to another suspected use of chemical weapons or a heavier assault designed to show the cost Assad brought on himself by using such weapons again, said one official familiar with military and diplomatic discussions on Syria.

Macron appeared to take a step Thursday toward joining the United States in a forthcoming attack, claiming that France has "proof" of a chemical attack and insisting anyone who commits such abuses be held to account.

Macron's comments were widely interpreted as an argument directed at critics worried about a reprise of France's participation in a 2011 deployment NATO intervention in Libya, which helped topple strongman Moammar Gadhafi but threw Libya into deeper chaos.

On Monday, Trump said a decision on a U.S. response to the weekend deaths of more than 40 civilians would come within 48 hours. That time frame elapsed with no explanation from the White House.

"We'll see what happens," Trump said during a brief appearance before reporters at the White House on Thursday afternoon. "We're obviously looking at that very closely ... . It's too bad that the world puts us in a position like that."

Some lawmakers were wary of the risk for confrontation, if not outright conflict, between the U.S. and Russia.

Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said he sees no legal justification for a U.S. strike in Syria, absent explicit authorization by Congress. More broadly, he doubted the wisdom of bombing.

"Until we have a more long-term strategy, until we have some idea where we're going in Syria and the Middle East, it seems unwise, to me, to start launching missiles," Smith said. "We need to know where that's going, what the purpose of it is before we take that act."

COMMENTS STARTLE

The debate about when, or whether, to strike in Syria follows Trump's surprise promise earlier this month to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria "very soon." Other nations should step in, Trump said. Like his remarks about the timing of strikes, that comment startled and alarmed military officials who argued that the U.S. counterterrorism mission has not run its course.

Trump's initial tweet Thursday about timing included a complaint about the military burden shouldered by the United States.

"In any event, the United States, under my Administration, has done a great job of ridding the region of ISIS," Trump wrote. "Where is our 'Thank you America?'"

It also conflated international anger over the alleged use of chemical weapons with the counterterrorism mission in Syria, a fight on which the United States, Russia and Assad are on the same side.

Mattis said the United States had yet to obtain hard evidence linked to the attack.

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"I believe there was a chemical attack, and we're looking for the actual evidence," he said in testimony before the House Armed Services Committee.

In a statement, Maj. Adrian Rankin-Galloway, a Defense Department spokesman, said the victims of the Douma attack had symptoms "reported by credible medical professionals and visible in social media photos and video [that] are consistent with an asphyxiation agent and of a nerve agent of some type."

Mattis said he hoped that experts from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons would soon be granted access to the affected areas, but he noted that inspectors would not have the ability to determine responsibility for the attack.

International legitimacy for a U.S. or allied strike would rest largely on such findings. Syria and Russia deny that Assad's forces deployed chemical agents. Russia argued at the United Nations this week that if such weapons were used it was an attack carried out by anti-Assad rebels.

The Netherlands-based chemical-weapons watchdog said Thursday that a fact-finding mission is en route to Syria and will start investigating the suspected chemical attack Saturday. The same organization has announced findings linking Russia to a suspected nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy in Britain last month.

Asked about the legal basis for a potential action in Syria, Mattis suggested it could be framed as a self-defense strike given the proximity of a force of about 2,000 U.S. troops.

"The use of chemical weapons in Syria is not something we should assume ... 'Well, because he didn't use them on us this time, he wouldn't use them on us next time,'" he said.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson appeared to cast doubt Thursday on an early strike, saying Britain is calling for a meeting of the chemical-weapons watchdog next week "to discuss next steps."

"We will now work tirelessly with our partners to help stamp out the grotesque use of weapons of this kind," Johnson said. "The Kremlin must give answers."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday that her country would not join a military operation in Syria.

SYRIANS CONTROL DOUMA

Russia's military declared Thursday that Syrian government troops had taken control of Douma, signaling the end to the wide-scale offensive to take back the rebel enclave.

The announcement by Russia indicated that military police would be deployed to maintain order in the city.

The city was in a transitional period toward coming under the control of Syria's legitimate government, said Maj. Gen. Yuri Yevtushenko, head of Russia's reconciliation center in the country, according to Russian state news agency Tass.

"Today marked a landmark event in Syria's history," Yevtushenko said. "The state flag was hoisted on the Douma building which signaled [Damascus'] control over this settlement and, hence, over all of eastern Ghouta."

In response to the threats from abroad, Assad said Thursday that a potential retaliation would be based on "lies" and would seek to undermine his forces' recent advances near Damascus. Western threats endanger international peace and security, Assad said, and military action would only contribute to the "further destabilization" of the region.

"Whenever the Syrian army achieves victory in the field, some Western countries [raise] their voices and intensify their movements in an attempt to change the track of events," Assad said.

Damascus residents, meanwhile, appeared to have brushed off the threat of an imminent attack.

The streets of Damascus were packed Thursday with people headed to the city's main market, cafes and restaurants. At Nabil Nafiseh, one of Damascus's most famous sweets shops, men, women and children sat outdoors enjoying the evening breeze and nibbling on Arab sweets.

Some Syrians were defiant. Real estate agent Ahmad Abdul-Rahman said he had taken his wife and three sons from his hometown of Aleppo, where there are no significant military targets, to Damascus to be together in case of an attack.

"I came here to defy the dogs who are threatening Syria," the 43-year-old said. "We don't care about America nor America's strike and we don't care about America's allies. We were not scared in Aleppo and we are not scared in Damascus."

Information for this article was contributed by John Wagner, Anne Gearan, Missy Ryan, James McAuley in Paris and Karen DeYoung of The Washington Post; by Robert Burns, Catherine Lucey, Bassem Mroue, Sarah El Deeb, Nataliya Vasilyeva, Edith M. Lederer, Raf Casert and Albert Aji of The Associated Press; and by Nabih Bulos of the Los Angeles Times.

photo

AP/SANA

Syrian President Bashar Assad (left) meets Thursday in Damascus with Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

A Section on 04/13/2018

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