Monday. Congresswoman Martha Roby, R-Montgomery, joined the chorus of voices supporting President Donald Trump’s decision to launch punitive cruise missile strikes on the military forces of Bashar Al-Assad after a reported chemical weapons attack on a rebel controlled suburb of Damascus that is being attributed to the Assad regime.
Roby said that Assad’s “horrific action must not be tolerated.”
“On Friday night, the United States responded to the Assad regime’s brutal chemical attacks against innocent people in Syria,” Roby said. “I have said many times that this horrific action must not be tolerated, and I support the Administration’s target action that was conducted alongside our British and French allies. Congress and the Administration will be discussing the long-term strategy as it relates to Syria, and that is starting this week with Secretary Mattis coming to the Hill for a classified members briefing on the situation. I look forward to hearing more from him.”
On Friday, naval ships and B1 bombers flying out of Qater launched Tomahawk cruise missiles on three military targets in Libya intended to degrade their ability to launch future chemical weapons attacks.
While this was reportedly a one time event, on Monday, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Niki Haley indicated that it may be ready to strike again.
“The United States is locked and loaded,” Haley said. “When our President draws a red line he enforces a red line.”
Also on Monday, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) reported that when they tried to travel to the Syrian town of Douma, where the chemical attack reportedly occurred on April 7, they were prevented from inspecting the site by Syrian and Russian officials citing “pending security issues.”
U.S. and French authorities believe that Douma was attacked with poison gas that reportedly killed at least 40 people and injured an estimated 500, mostly civilian noncombatants.
After crushing ISIS, in Syria and Iraq, =Trump had publicly discussed withdrawing U.S. forces from Syria.
On Monday, French President Emanuel Macron said, “Ten days ago, President Trump said the USA’s will is to disengage from Syria. We convinced him that it was necessary to stay,”
Trump has said that he will continue the strikes if necessary.
Russia is calling for a meeting of the United Nations Security Council.
Some in Congress have claimed that the President has exceeded his authority in Syria.
“It is Congress, not the president, which has the constitutional responsibility for making war” U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, said in a statement. “The international community must uphold the prohibition against the use of chemical weapons, but it is unclear how President Trump’s illegal and unauthorized strikes on Syria tonight will achieve that goal. After 17 years of war in Afghanistan and 15 years of war in Iraq, we need a political strategy to bring peace and stability to the region, not more U.S. military intervention.”
Roby represents Alabama’s 2nd congressional district.
(Original reporting by Fox News and CNN contributed to this report.)
