Syrian Chemical Attacks Draw U.S. Threats

The attacks in Syria, and the U.S. threat – in the U.N. – to act.

Last week, the Trump administration was all about steering clear of Syria. This week, in the aftermath of a shocking chemical attack, the talk is of lines crossed and potential US action. Before he was president, when Syria used gas, Donald Trump told Barack Obama not to attack. No upside, he said. Yesterday, President Trump said “My attitude toward Syria and Assad has changed.” Steve Bannon’s bumped from the NSC. Now what? This hour On Point, talk, threats, and potential action over Syria. — Tom Ashbrook

Sarah El-Deeb, Syria and Lebanon correspondent for the Associated Press. (@seldeeb)

Nahal Toosi, foreign affairs correspondent for POLITICO. (@nahaltoosi)

Robin Wright, journalist and author. Joint fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace and the Woodrow Wilson Center. Contributing writer for the New Yorker. (@wrightr)

Wa'el Alzayat, former senior policy advisor on Iraq and Syria for former U.S. U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power. CEO of the nonprofit, EmergeUSA. (@WaelAlzayat)

"The latest we are hearing about the death toll is that it is likely to climb," Sarah El-Deeb told us today. "They have 82 names of people that were killed on Tuesday, and they are likely to see a climb. There are 500 people that are injured, at least 30 of those are being treated in Turkey, and three of the 30 who are in Turkey died from the impact. Turkish officials announced that the autopsies of the people that died in Turkey were subjected to some kind of chemical attack.  There is an official, there is an autopsy, and people in the town have to deal with it. We haven't seen any pictures of the warehouse they say they have targeted, and the rockets and the airstrikes happened in a populated area where a lot of the people of the town lived. This area is where the wheat silos of the town used to be, but the government had destroyed those in previous attacks on the town. We have not any evidence of the warehouse that was targeted. There's always a question mark in Syria — we don't have the ability to report directly on the ground. I'm telling you what we are able to rule out, at least."

New York Times: Nikki Haley Says U.S. May ‘Take Our Own Action’ on Syrian Chemical Attack — "Holding photographs of dead Syrian children after a suspected chemical bomb attack, the United States ambassador to the United Nations warned on Wednesday that her country might take unilateral action if the Security Council failed to respond to the latest atrocity in the Syria war."

Associated Press: Mounting confidence nerve gas was used in Syria attack -- "Diplomats at the U.N. Security council sparred Wednesday over whether to hold President Bashar Assad's government responsible for a chemical weapons attack that killed more than 80 people in northern Syria, while U.S. intelligence officials, Doctors Without Borders and the U.N. healthy agency said evidence pointed to nerve gas exposure."

POLITICO: Trump: Chemical attack in Syria 'crossed many, many lines' — " President Donald Trump on Wednesday said the recent chemical weapons attack in Syria 'crossed many, many lines' for him, and he said his attitude toward Syria and President Bashar Assad had 'changed very much' as a result."