Trump Is Reportedly Considering More Military Action in Syria

Donald Trump has reportedly told some members of Congress that he's considering military action in Syria, according to Dana Bash of CNN.

The news comes just days after Syrian President Bashar Assad unleashed the worst chemical attack on his people in years––one that killed at least 69 people in the rebel-held province of Idlib. Humanitarian groups say that the body count could be as high as 100, and there's been international outrage over footage of infants struggling to breathe as a result of the attack.

In an interview with the New York Times published Wednesday, Trump called the bombing a "disgrace" and an "affront to humanity." During a press conference with King Abdullah II of Jordan, he added that it had crossed "beyond a red line" and that his "attitude toward Syria and Assad has changed very much."

This potentially represents a pretty big shift—for years, Trump has pushed for a more isolationist foreign policy, which was one of the views that separated him from the rest of the Republican Party. In 2013, Trump tweeted an all-caps message to Barack Obama about how foolish to would be to get involved in Syria. He denounced the Iraq War and ran for president on a vague "America First" platform that was mostly taken as a stance against humanitarian interventions. During the town hall debate in October, he said that he didn't "like" Assad at all but could get behind the strongman's efforts—along with Russia and Iran—to fight ISIS.

The Pentagon was already sending more troops to Syria in anti-ISIS operations, and it remains unclear whether Trump's remarks actually mean the US will get more involved in the conflict. It's also unclear what form that involvement would take. Trump just says stuff sometimes, after all. As the Guardian notes, he may forget about the matter in a week. Another option is that the recent shakeup of the National Security Council means that national security adviser H.R. McMaster and Defense Secretary James Mattis will be calling the shots with less White House interference.

The confusion has Russia––Syria's biggest ally during its six-year-long civil war––asking Trump for clarification on his policy going forward.

"Russia's approach to Assad is clear," Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova texted CNN. "He is the legal president of an independent state. What is the US approach?"

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