Deeper action in Syria unlikely, president says
WASHINGTON — President Trump is appearing to rule out deeper American military intervention in Syria beyond retaliatory strikes if Syrian President Bashar Assad continues his assault on civilians with chemical weapons.
“Are we going to get involved with Syria? No,” Trump told Fox Business News in an interview that aired Wednesday.
Trump’s comments come less than a week after he ordered missile strikes on a Syrian airfield after U.S. evidence indicated that Assad killed civilians using the nerve agent sarin.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer on Wednesday said the president was not ruling out another attack on Syrian government installations if Assad continued to use chemical weapons against civilians.
But Spicer said “going in and occupying Syria for the express purpose of regime change is something the president has been very clear on.”
Trump also warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that in backing Assad, Putin was supporting someone who is “truly an evil person.”
“I think it’s very bad for Russia. I think it’s very bad for mankind. It’s very bad for this world,” Trump told Fox Business News.
Later Wednesday, Trump did an about-face on NATO, the military alliance he once dismissed as ineffective.
The president said at a White House news conference with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg that the organization is “no longer obsolete.”
As a candidate, Trump said the 28-member organization had outlived its usefulness. Since taking office, he has expressed support for NATO but has reinforced his view that European members must meet a 2014 agreement for member countries to boost defense spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product within a decade. Just the U.S. and a handful of other countries are meeting the target.
Trump has said NATO countries will be more secure and the partnership strengthened if other countries pay their fair share and stop relying on the United States.