Just one week after Rex Tillerson signaled of a historic U-Turn in US policy regarding Syria, when he said that “the longer term status of President Assad will be decided by the Syrian people” suggesting the US is no longer intent on removing the Syrian president, this afternoon Trump signaled that the White House is about to U-turn once again, likely emerging in the same place where the Obama administration was when it nearly invaded Syria in 2013.
Speaking at a press conference with Jordan’s King Abdullah, II, President Trump on Wednesday called the suspected chemical weapons attack on civilians in Syria “a terrible affront to humanity” and hinted briefly that a change in U.S. policy on Syria may be coming as a result. Trump said that he was moved by reports of a deadly gas attack in Syria, saying that the Syrian leader – who has denied being behind the attack – had “crossed a lot of lines.”
“It crossed a lot of lines for me,” Trump said at a press conference with Jordanian King Abdullah II at the White House. “When you kill innocent children, innocent babies, little babies with a chemical gas that is so lethal that people were shocked to hear what gas it was, that crosses many lines beyond the red line. Many, many lines.”
While painfully reminiscent of a similar chemical attack conducted in 2013, which was subsequently revealed to be a false flag, U.S. officials said they believe the attack was carried out by the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Which, again, does not make much sense since just days before the chemical attack, Trump administration officials said the U.S. would no longer prioritize regime change in Syria and that they expect Mr. Assad to remain in power. Perhaps the mere suggestion that someone – i.e., US-backed Syrian rebels or ISIS jihadists in the area of Idlib – could engage in a false flag attack is considered too much “tin foil” conspiracy theory.
And so, just hours after Bannon departed his security council, Trump started to shift toward a neo-con posture, saying that the reports of women and children who had died in the “horrible” attack had a “big impact” and caused him to rethink his strategy on Syria.
“I do change. I am flexible. I am proud of that flexibility,” Trump said. “I will tell you that attack on children yesterday had a big impact on me. Big impact. It was a horrible, horrible thing. I’ve been watching it and seeing it, and it does not get any worse than that. I have that flexibility. And it is very, very possible, and I will tell you it is already happened, that my attitude toward Syria and Assad has changed very much.”
Trump declined to outline what his new approach to Syria may be.
Meanwhile, as reported earlier today, should Trump pick up where Obama left off, and launch a full-blown escalation in Syria or worse, he will have his first official diplomatic collision with the Kremlin, which not only defended Assad earlier today, but said it would continue its military activity in Syria.
via http://ift.tt/2oE7ugB Tyler Durden