An administration of US President Donald Trump is considering a new “military action” against Syrian government forces, which will be justified by alleged chemical attacks conducted by them against peaceful al-Qaeda militants in Eastern Ghouta.
According to the Washington Post, President Trump, Chief of Staff John Kelly, National Security Adviser Herbert McMaster and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis met last week to disccuss the possible military actions.
The newspaper quoted one senior administration official as saying that Mattis was “adamantly” against the military action in response to the recently reported chlorine attacks and that McMaster “was for it.”
Another official was quoted saying that at the end of the day “the president did not endorse any military action and that officials decided to continue monitoring the situation.”
However, Dana White, chief Pentagon spokeswoman, denied that Mattis took part in such a discussion and said the “conversation did not happen.”