THE Pentagon has confirmed that it alerted Russian military counterparts about the strikes through a hotline, but White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, has said there was no political contact with the Kremlin.
According to The Guardian (UK), on Friday, Spicer also told reporters that Trump’s attitude toward Syria “evolved” over his 70-some days in office, especially thanks to the “clear images that were available” and “that everybody in the world could see”.
“It was very disturbing and tragic and moving to him,” Spicer said, adding, “He had a very deliberative process of asking his national security team to develop options.”
The White House Press Secretary also insisted that the intent of the actions were limited in scope: a message that Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian leader, “should abide by the agreement they made not to use chemical weapons.”
Spicer also invoked support from allies to tamp down concern that the missile strikes could further entangle nations into a bloody, chaotic civil war.
“If you’ve seen the response from the world community”, Spicer said, “they understand that the US acted appropriately and in most cases there is widespread praise from around the globe for the president’s actions.”
He said the US’s strikes did not preclude its willingness to work with Russia on counter-terrorism operations-though Russia and Syria have described all anti-Assad rebels, whether jihadists or not, as terrorists.
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