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| U.S. President Donald Trump makes a statement about Syria at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 13. / REUTERS-Yonhap |
The following are highlights from U.S. President Donald Trump's remarks on Friday announcing military strikes targeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons capabilities after a poison gas attack that killed at least 60 people last week:
"A short time ago, I ordered the United States Armed Forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now underway. We thank them both."
"The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons. Establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the United States."
"The combined American, British and French response to these atrocities will integrate all instruments of our national power: military, economy and diplomatic. We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents."
"Last Saturday, the Assad regime again deployed chemical weapons to slaughter innocent civilians, this time in the town of Douma near the Syrian capital of Damascus. This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime."
"These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead."
"To Iran and to Russia, I ask, what kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children?"
"Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace."
"America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria, under no circumstances."
"We cannot purge the world of evil or act everywhere where there is tyranny."
"The United States will be a partner and a friend but the fate of the region lies in the hands of its own people." (REUTERS)
