Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke by phone on Saturday about the situation in Syria after the US strikes on a Syrian air base, the Russian ministry said in a statement.
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Graham said while he believes troops will be needed to ultimately solve the Syrian problem and that sanctions should be pursued against Russian Federation, he said Trump’s course of action has been encouraging.
Speaking to Jake Tapper, the host of the State of the Union show, on Sunday, the USA official said that the issue of the new sanctions is already being discussed. After several attempts to pin McMaster down, Wallace had to be satisfied with this statement: “The president will make whatever decision he thinks is in the best interest of the American people”.
Hassan Rouhani and Vladimir Putin, the Iranian and Russian presidents, said on Sunday that US airstrike against Syria was an act of invasion which ran contrary to global law and the United Nations charter.
Shayrat is the home base for war planes that carried out Tuesday’s gas attack that prompted the USA missile launch.
But as lawmakers called on Trump to consult with Congress on any future military strikes and a longer-term strategy on Syria, Trump administration officials sent mixed signals on the scope of US involvement.
“There’s not any sort of option where a political solution is going to happen with Assad at the head of the regime”, Haley stated.
‘The question is how do you remove Assad and what does the next day look like?’
McMaster said Russian leaders were supporting “a murderous regime” and their actions would dictate the future of U.S.
“What we’ve seen is, you know, in our meetings this week, we were told of the evidence”, she said.
Much will obviously depend on how United States policy develops in Syria.
“We call on Russian Federation to do everything possible to bring about a political settlement in Syria and work with the rest of the global community to ensure that the shocking events of the last week are never repeated”.
“If Russia wants to be absolved of responsibility for future attacks, Vladimir Putin needs to enforce commitments, to dismantle Assad’s chemical weapons arsenal for good, and to get fully engaged with the United Nations peacekeeping progress”.
The Organization for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons, a global watchdog, said Thursday that it had initiated contact with the Syrian government, and that it was investigating the attack on Khan Sheikhoun.
Putin said that the US missile attacks were an “unacceptable move” which strengthens the terrorists.
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A Syrian Sukhoi jet took off from the Shayrat airbase targeted by the volley of USA strikes, Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV channel reported Sunday, saying repairs to the base began within hours of the attack. It was not immediately clear who carried out the strike.
