Tillerson said “steps are under way” to form an international coalition to remove the president of Syria Bashar al-Assad after Tuesday’s chemical bombings in Syria. He was asked: what steps is the United States prepared to take in order to remove him from power?
“The process by which Assad would leave I think requires an international community effort, both to first defeat ISIS within Syria, to stabilize the Syrian country, to avoid further civil war and then to work collectively with our partners around the world through a political process that would lead to Assad leaving.”
REPORTER: So will you and President Trump organize an international coalition to remove Assad?
TILLERSON: “Those steps are under way.”
President Trump declares that he’s changed his mind about military action
At a news conference on Tuesday, Trump commented on Monday’s nerve gas attack in Syria, explaining why he changed his mind:
Yesterday, a chemical attack – a chemical attack that was so horrific, in Syria, against innocent people, including women, small children, and even beautiful little babies. Their deaths was an affront to humanity. These heinous actions by the Assad regime cannot be tolerate…
Well, I think the Obama administration had a great opportunity to solve this crisis a long time ago when he said the red line in the sand. And when he didn’t cross that line after making the threat, I think that set us back a long ways, not only in Syria, but in many other parts of the world, because it was a blank threat. I think it was something that was not one of our better days as a country.
He says that he will not reveal his plans, but implies that the plans are military (as opposed to, say, sanctions):
Well, one of the things I think you’ve noticed about me is, militarily, I don’t like to say where I’m going and what I doing. And I watched past administrations say, we will attack at such and such a day at such and such an hour…
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