President Trump on Sunday condemned a suspected chemical attack in Syria and criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iran for backing Syrian President Bashar Assad, whom Mr. Trump called an “animal.”
Details of the attack late Saturday continued to emerge with gut-wrenching visuals showing stunned, slobbering Syrian toddlers struggling to breathe and reports painting a hellish scene of dozens dead in Douma, the last anti-Assad rebel stronghold in the suburbs of the capital, Damascus.
Syria and its main ally, Russia, denied that a chemical attack had taken place, but international reaction was swift. The U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency debate for Monday, and European Union leaders called for an immediate response.
Pope Francis, speaking at the Vatican, condemned the attack as an unjustifiable use of “instruments of extermination against defenseless people and populations.”
In Washington, intelligence officials were scrambling to verify that chemical weapons had been used, and the Trump administration faced a fresh dilemma in Syria’s 7-year-old war: Should the Assad regime’s further use of chemical weapons lead to a significant military reaction — or simply more ritual condemnation?
Almost exactly a year ago, Mr. Trump ordered military strikes on a Syrian air base after a chemical attack in the northern Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun killed dozens.
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Last week, however, Mr. Trump said he wanted the U.S. out of Syria once and for all, perceiving that the war against Islamic State militants had been basically won.
In a series of tweets on Sunday, Mr. Trump’s anger was pointed. “Many dead, including women and children, in mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria. Area of atrocity is in lockdown and encircled by Syrian Army, making it completely inaccessible to outside world.”
He added: “President Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad. Big price to pay. Open area immediately for medical help and verification. Another humanitarian disaster for no reason whatsoever. SICK!” Mr. Trump said.
Some U.S. lawmakers said a limited U.S. military response could be warranted, but others warned caution.
“These people are butchers. And not only do they use chemical weapons to kill people, they prevent any humanitarian aid from going in to help them after the attack,” Rep. Mac Thornberry, Texas Republican and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said during an appearance on Fox News.
He said the situation has been better since the U.S.-Khan Sheikhoun retaliation strikes last year. “I think a limited military strike against those units that carry out these attacks should definitely be considered, just as [Mr. Trump] did a year ago,” Mr. Thornberry said.
According to Syrian state-run TV, there was a missile attack on an air base near Homs, in central Syria, early Monday. The Syrian Arab News Agency acknowledged casualties but also reported that the country’s air defense systems shot down eight missiles.
However, the Pentagon denied to reporters that the U.S. had fired missiles against Syria, prompting speculation that the claimed attack, corroborated by reports of noises in Lebanon, might by Israeli.
Sen. Susan M. Collins, Maine Republican, said a similarly targeted attack should be considered and that the president might have to reconsider his plans to de-escalate the U.S. military presence in Syria.
“I think the president is going to have to reconsider his plan for an early withdrawal, in light of what has happened,” Ms. Collins said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Rep. John K. Delaney, Maryland Democrat, said a military response in the region should be guided by a new authorization for the use of military force.
“But would I support a specific strike to degrade the capabilities of Assad to pursue another one of these attacks? Provided that there weren’t a lot of kind of civilian casualties associated with it? Yes,” he said on CNN.
Like the Obama administration, the Trump administration says it believes it has the authority to carry out its military campaign against the Islamic State terrorist group under a 2001 war authorization passed soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Douma is the last rebel stronghold in the suburbs of Damascus known as eastern Ghouta.
A chemical attack in eastern Ghouta in 2013 that was widely blamed on government forces killed hundreds of people, prompting the U.S. to threaten military action before backing down.
On Sunday, Mr. Trump lashed out at the Obama administration’s Syria policy during that time.
“If President Obama had crossed his stated Red Line In The Sand, the Syrian disaster would have ended long ago! Animal Assad would have been history!” Mr. Trump tweeted.
Syrian opposition activists and rescuers said Sunday that the poison gas attack in Douma killed at least 40 people and that families were found suffocated in their homes and shelters, with foam on their mouths.
While the reports could not be independently verified, the opposition-linked Syrian Civil Defense was able to document 42 fatalities but were impeded from searching further by strong odors that gave their rescuers difficulties breathing, said Siraj Mahmoud, a spokesman for the group, which is known as the White Helmets.
A joint statement by the Civil Defense and the Syrian American Medical Society, a relief organization, said more than 500 people, mostly women and children, were brought to medical centers with difficulty breathing, foaming at the mouth and burning of the eyes. It said patients gave off a chlorinelike smell. Some had blue skin, a sign of oxygen deprivation.
It said the symptoms were consistent with chemical exposure. One patient, a woman, had convulsions and pinpoint pupils, suggesting exposure to a nerve agent.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 80 people were killed in Douma on Saturday, including about 40 who died from suffocation. But it said the suffocations were the result of shelters collapsing on people inside.
The attack occurred amid a resumed offensive by Syrian government forces after the collapse on Friday afternoon of a 10-day truce with the Army of Islam rebel group.
But in a statement posted on the state-run news agency SANA, the Syrian government said the claims were “fabrications” by the Army of Islam and called it a failed attempt to impede government advances.
Russia, the Syrian government’s most powerful ally, also denied any involvement in the attack.
On Sunday, Maj. Gen. Yuri Yevtushenko was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying Russia was prepared to “promptly send Russian specialists in radiation, chemical and biological protection to Douma after its liberation from fighters to gather data that will confirm the fabricated nature of these statements.”
Gen. Yevtushenko said “a number of Western countries” are trying to prevent the resumption of an operation to remove Army of Islam fighters from Douma and “to this end they are using the West’s pet theme of the use of chemical weapons by Syrian forces.”
Syria denies ever using chemical weapons during the civil war and says it eliminated its chemical arsenal under a 2013 agreement brokered by the U.S. and Russia after the attack in eastern Ghouta.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
• Dan Boylan can be reached at dboylan@washingtontimes.com.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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