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‘No final decision has been made’ on Syria: White House

Thursday, 12 April 2018 11:15 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 13 April 2018 6:12 PM ]

US President Donald Trump speaks in the Rose Garden at the White House on April 12, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by AFP)

President Donald Trump and his national security aides have discussed US options on Syria and “no final decision has been made,” according to the White House.

“We are continuing to assess intelligence and are engaged in conversations with our partners and allies,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement on Thursday.

The statement added that Trump would soon speak with French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Theresa May.

The White House announcement came shortly after the British PM won backing from her "war cabinet" to take action with the United States and France in Syria to "deter the further use of chemical weapons.”

May and her senior ministers agreed it was "highly likely" the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was responsible for the recent alleged chemical weapons attack in the Arab country, declaring the use of chemical weapons must not "go unchallenged.”

Trump, May vow to deter Assad: UK

The British prime minister's office said on Thursday that May and Trump vowed to deter President Assad from further using chemical weapons in an attack.

“They agreed it was vital that the use of chemical weapons did not go unchallenged, and on the need to deter the further use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime,” May's office said in a statement. “They agreed to keep working closely together on the international response."

PressTV-UK ‘war cabinet’ agrees on ‘action' in Syria

British PM Theresa May has won backing from her "war cabinet" to take action in Syria to "deter the further use of chemical weapons."

The US and its allies have been threatening Damascus with military action since April 7, when a suspected chemical attack on the Syrian town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta, reportedly killed 60 people and injured hundreds more.

The possibility of an attack grew larger on Wednesday, after Trump warned Russia, Syria’s key supporters in the fight against foreign-backed militancy, to "get ready" to shoot down American missiles over Syria soon.

But Trump tempered those remarks on Thursday, saying the US response could be "very soon or not so soon at all!"

“Never said when an attack on Syria would take place. Could be very soon or not so soon at all!” Trump wrote on Twitter.

"In any event, the United States, under my Administration, has done a great job of ridding the region of ISIS [Daesh]. Where is our 'Thank you America?'"