WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is appearing to rule out deeper American military intervention in Syria beyond retaliatory strikes if Syrian President Bashar Assad continues his assault on civilians with chemical weapons.
"Are we going to get involved with Syria? No," Trump told Fox Business News in an interview that aired Wednesday.
Trumps comments come less than a week after he ordered missile strikes on a Syrian airfield after U.S. evidence indicated that Assad killed civilians using the nerve agent sarin.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer on Wednesday said that the president was not ruling out another attack on Syrian government installations if Assad continued to use chemical weapons against civilians.
But Spicer said "going in and occupying Syria for the express purpose of regime change is something the president has been very clear on."
Trump also warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that in backing Assad, Putin was supporting someone who is "truly an evil person."
"I think it's very bad for Russia. I think it's very bad for mankind. It's very bad for this world," Trump told Fox Business News.
Later Wednesday, Trump planned to hold talks at the White House with Jens Stoltenberg, NATO's secretary-general.
Since Trump took office in January, he has been confronted by European allies who have fear his administration will go easy on Russia. During his 2016 campaign, Trump said he would decide whether to honor the commitment to protect the Baltic republics against Russian aggression, based on whether those countries "have fulfilled their obligations to us."
Read Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.