Trump to make decision on Syria after chemical attack

US President Donald Trump on Monday condemned a suspected chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held town in Syria that killed dozens of people and said he would make a decision on a response, probably by the end of the day.

Speaking at a Cabinet meeting, Trump said he was talking to military leaders and would decide who was responsible for the attack -- whether it was Russia, or Bashar al Assad's regime, or Iran, or all of them together.

"If it's Russia, if it's Syria, if it's Iran, if it's all of them together, we'll figure it out," he said.

On Sunday President Trump condemned a "mindless CHEMICAL attack" in Syria that killed women and children, called Syrian regime leader Bashar al Assad an "animal" and delivered a rare personal criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin for supporting the Damascus regime.

International bodies led by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) were trying to establish exactly what happened on Saturday in Douma, a besieged town in eastern Ghouta near Damascus.

The Syrian regime and its ally Russia have denied involvement in the attack.

US government sources said on Monday the administration had not yet conclusively determined whether the attack was carried out by Assad's forces. Its initial assessment suggested that a nerve agent was used but further evidence was needed to determine what specifically it was, the sources said.

TRT World's Tetiana Anderson has more on the development from Washington DC.

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said he would not rule out military action such as air strikes if blame was proven.

"I don't rule out anything right now," he told reporters in Washington.

Mattis accused Russia of falling short on its obligations to ensure that Syria abandoned its chemical weapons capabilities.

"The first thing we have to look at is why are chemical weapons still being used at all when Russia was the framework guarantor of removing all the chemical weapons." he said.

Just over a year ago, Trump ordered dozens of cruise missiles to be fired at a Syrian air base after declaring there was no doubt Assad had "choked out the lives of helpless" civilians in an attack that used banned gases. 

White House advisers said at the time that images of hurt children helped spur the president to launch that air strike, and television news shows on Sunday aired similar depictions of suffering young Syrians.

Saturday's attack took place in a rebel-held town near Damascus amid a resumed offensive by Syrian regime forces after the collapse of a truce. Syrian activists, rescuers and medics said a poison gas attack in Douma killed at least 40 people, with families found suffocated in their houses and shelters. The reports could not immediately be independently verified.

The developments come as Trump has moved to dramatically scale back US goals in Syria, pushing for a quick military withdrawal despite resistance from many of his national security advisers. 

Trump has given no formal order to pull out the 2,000 US troops in Syria or offered a public timetable other than to say the US will withdraw as soon as the remaining Daesh fighters can be vanquished.

But Trump has signalled to his advisers that, ideally, he wants all troops out within six months.

TRT World Defence Analyst Oubai Shahbandar discusses the US reaction to the chemical attack from Washington DC.

Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona said Assad heard Trump's signal that he wanted to withdraw from Syria and, "emboldened by American inaction," launched the attack. In a statement, McCain said Trump "responded decisively" last year with the air strike and urged Trump to be forceful again to "demonstrate that Assad will pay a price for his war crimes."

Images released by the Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets, a volunteer organization, show children lying on the ground motionless and foaming at the mouth. The Assad regime, in a statement posted on the state-run news agency SANA, denied responsibility.

Trump was briefed about the attack by his chief of staff, John Kelly, officials said. Trump's homeland security adviser, Thomas Bossert, noted the timing of the suspected chemical attack — almost a year to the day of the US missile strikes.

"This isn't just the United States. This is one of those issues on which every nation, all peoples, have all agreed and have agreed since World War II, it's an unacceptable practice," Bossert said.

Asked about the potential for an American missile strike in response, Bossert said: "I wouldn't take anything off the table. These are horrible photos. We're looking into the attack at this point."

Trump was to meet with his senior military leadership on Monday, the same day his new national security adviser, John Bolton, assumes his post. Bolton has previously advocated significant airstrikes against Syria.

Vice President Mike Pence on Sunday deemed it a "likely chemical attack" and reiterated Trump's threat that consequences would be coming for those responsible.

"We condemn in the strongest possible terms the assault on innocent lives, including children," Pence tweeted. "The Assad regime & its backers MUST END their barbaric behaviour."

The red line

Trump's decision to single out Putin in a tweet appeared noteworthy because Trump long has been reluctant to personally criticise the Russian leader. 

Even as the White House, after some delay, imposed tough new sanctions on Russia in the wake of its US election meddling and suspected poisoning of a former spy on British soil, Trump left it to others in his administration to deliver the rebukes to Moscow.

On Sunday, Senator Susan Collins urged Trump to "ramp up the pressure and the sanctions on the Russian government, because, without the support of Russia, I do not believe that Assad would still be in office."

The president has often laid some blame on his predecessor, Barack Obama, for Assad's continued grip on power after years of civil war.

Obama said in 2012 that Syria's use of chemical weapons would be a "red line" that would change his decision-making on intervening in the war and have "enormous consequences." After such an attack in 2013 killed hundreds outside Damascus, American ships in the Mediterranean were poised to launch missiles. But Obama pulled back after key US ally Britain, as well as Congress, balked.

He opted for a Russian-backed proposal that was supposed to remove and eliminate Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles.

Questions about the administration's possible response reverberated throughout Washington in the hours after the attack.

"It's a defining moment in his presidency" that comes as Assad sees the US "determination to stay in Syria waning," said Senator Lindsey Graham.

"If he doesn't follow through and live up to that tweet, he's going to look weak in the eyes of Russia and Iran," Graham said. "You need to follow through with that tweet. Show a resolve that Obama never did to get this right."