US lawmakers demand details of broader Syria strategy

US lawmakers from both parties today backed President Donald Trump’s cruise missile strikes on Syria, but commanded he spell out a broader strategy for dealing with the conflict and consult with Congress on any further action.

Trump ordered the firing of cruise missiles at a Syrian air base that US officials said was the launching point for a deadly chemical weapons attack against Syrian nearly 100 civilians this week, the majority children.

The strike was well planned, well executed, it was certainly more than a pinprick, and sends a message … to Assad that using chemical weapons again is not something he can do with impunity

 

Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told a news conference.

“It also reassures our Sunni Arab allies that America is back in terms of playing a leadership role in trying to be constructive in a variety of places around the world, as well as a message to Iran, and North Korea, and the Russians that America intends to lead,” he said.

McConnell said Vice President Mike Pence had called him to explain the rationale for the strikes in one of a series of calls by top administration officials to members of Congress that began shortly before the strikes.

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Democratic Senator Mark Warner, the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Trump’s Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats, called him after the strikes.

I am hopeful these strikes will convince the Assad regime that such actions should never be repeated

Warner said in a statement, referring to the government of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.

​”President Trump needs to articulate a coherent strategy for dealing with this complex conflict, because the consequences of a misstep are grave,” Warner said in a statement.

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The strike does not indicate that the US’ operations against Daesh in Syria and Iraq are changing, an official confirmed.