■ US SEEKS GLOBAL SUPPORT FOR OUSTER OF SYRIA’S ASSAD

US President Donald Trump’s decision to launch air strikes last week, in response to a chemical attack that killed dozens of civilians in Syria, has raised optimism among rebel groups that have long pressed for more intervention from Washington. Trump’s national security adviser H.R. McMaster said in his first televised interview that the US is pursuing “simultaneous” goals of fighting the Islamic State group and removing Syrian President Bashar Assad. “We are not saying we are the ones who are going to effect that change,” McMaster said. “Other countries have to ask themselves some hard questions. Why are we supporting this murderous regime?”

President Donald Trump’s national security adviser has left open the possibility of additional U.S. military action against Syria following last week’s missile strike but indicated that the United States was not seeking to act unilaterally to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad.

In his first televised interview, H.R. McMaster pointed to dual U.S. goals of defeating the Islamic State group and removing Assad.

But he suggested that Trump was seeking a global political response for regime change from U.S. allies as well as Russia, which he said needed to re-evaluate its support of Syria.

“It’s very difficult to understand how a political solution could result from the continuation of the Assad regime,” McMaster said. “Now, we are not saying that we are the ones who are going to effect that change. What we are saying is, other countries have to ask themselves some hard questions. Russia should ask themselves ...Why are we supporting this murderous regime that is committing mass murder of its own population?”

After last Tuesday’s chemical attack in Syria, Trump said his attitude toward Assad “has changed very much” and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said “steps are underway” to organize a coalition to remove him from power.

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 U.S. involvement.

While Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, described regime change in Syria as a U.S. priority and inevitable, Tillerson suggested that last week’s American airstrikes in retaliation for the chemical attack hadn’t really changed U.S. priorities toward ousting Assad.

Pressed to clarify, McMaster said the goals of fighting IS and ousting Syria’s president were somewhat “simultaneous” and that the objective of the missile strike was to send a “strong political message to Assad.”

He did not rule out addition- al strikes if Assad continued to engage in atrocities against rebel forces with either chemical or conventional weapons.

“We are prepared to do more,” he said. “The president will make whatever decision he thinks is in the best interest of the American people.”

Reluctant to put significant troops on the ground in Syria, the U.S. for years has struggled to prevent Assad from strength- ening his hold on power.

U.S.-backed rebels groups have long pleaded for more U.S. intervention and complained that Washington has only fought the Islamic State group.

So Trump’s decision to launch the strikes — which President Barack Obama declined to do after a 2013 chemical attack — has raised optimism among rebels that Trump will more directly confront Assad.