Secretary of State Rex Tillerson stated at a press conference that Russia has “failed” in its responsibility to deliver on a 2013 commitment to secure Syria’s chemical weapons.
The secretary says Russia has either been complicit or “simply incompetent” in failing to deliver on its end of the agreement.
The agreement was struck after a 2013 chemical weapons attack. President Barack Obama threatened air strikes at the time, but did not get Congress’s approval and ultimately decided against unilateral military action.
Tillerson briefed reporters at 10 P.M. ET on Thursday, April 6, shortly after the U.S. launched cruise missiles against a Syrian air base in retaliation for a gruesome chemical weapons attack.
The United States launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Syria’s Al-Shayrat airbase air base n response to a chemical weapons attack it blames on President Bashar Assad.
U.S. officials say Syrian government aircraft killed dozens of civilians by using chlorine mixed with a nerve agent, possibly sarin, earlier this week.
U.S. officials say the Tomahawk missiles were fired from two warships in the Mediterranean Sea
Earlier Thursday Tillerson had said that President Bashar al-Assad should no longer have a role in governing the Syrian people after this week’s chemical attack and the U.S. is evaluating an appropriate response.
Tillerson said there is “no doubt in our minds” that Assad’s government was behind the attack that killed dozens of innocent people in rebel-held northern Idlib and is deemed one of the worst attacks in Syria’s civil war.
Tillerson also issued a warning to Russia that it should “consider carefully” its support of Assad’s government. He says the images of dead women and children “horrified all of us” and attacks of this nature cannot be tolerated.
Tillerson made those remarks in West Palm Beach, Florida, after welcoming China’s President Xi Jinping for a two-day summit with President Donald Trump.
