Trump opens the door to military action in Syria after branding sarin massacre an 'affront to humanity' that 'crossed a lot of lines' and warns: 'My attitude toward Assad has changed'

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President Donald Trump said Wednesday that it is now his responsibility to resolve the humanitarian and political crisis in Syria as he opened the door to military action in the country.  

Trump upped the ante in a Rose Garden press conference after having said earlier in the day that the the chemical weapons attack is a 'terrible affront to humanity.' 

'My attitude toward Syria and Assad has changed very much,' Trump declared, suggesting with the statement that he may be reconsidering his directive to US diplomats to take their focus off removing Bashar al-Assad from power. 

The 'horrible, horrible' sarin gas attack that killed small children and 'beautiful babies' had a 'big impact' on the president, who declared Wednesday that the attack 'crossed a lot of lines.'

'When you kill innocent children, innocent babies...with a chemical gas that is so lethal...that crosses many, many lines. Beyond a red line,' Trump said, making reference to Barack Obama's infamous 2012 threat to Assad.

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President Donald Trump said Wednesday during a Rose Garden news conference that it is now his responsibility to resolve the humanitarian and political crisis in Syria as he opened the door to military action in the country

Beyond a red line: Trump said that a 'many, many lines' had been crossed 'when you kill innocent children, innocent babies...with a chemical gas that is so lethal...'

President Donald Trump said today that the chemical weapons attack in Syria is a 'terrible affront to humanity' during an Oval Office photo op with King Abdullah II of Jordan and his wife, Queen Rania, and the First Lady of the United States, Melania

Melania and Rania joined their husbands in the Oval Office and took a walk down the White House Colonnade 

PICTURE PERFECT: U.S. President Donald Trump and his wife First Lady Melania Trump welcome King Abdullah II Hussein of Jordan and his wife Queen Rania of Jordan at the West Wing of the White House. Trump and Abdullah both wore blue suits with red ties for the occasion - and their wives had on dresses, each sporting a black bel

Obama warned Assad at the end of his first term that there would be consequences if he administered chemical weapons against his own people. Once reelected, Obama did not follow through. 

As his time in office came to an end, Obama said the situation 'haunts me constantly' and that he wonders if there was 'some move' he could have made to broker peace.

Trump said Wednesday that Obama's 'blank threat' to Assad 'set us back a long way.'

'I think the Obama administration had a great opportunity to solve this,' he told a reporter asking about his predecessor and his 'red line' during an afternoon news conference. 'It was a great opportunity missed.'  

A written statement on Tuesday placed blame for the attack squarely on Obama's shoulders, and Trump's spokesman claimed during an off-camera briefing that it had nothing to do with this administration's approach to the conflict.

Trump took ownership of the conflict at his Wednesday press conference, proclaiming from the White House's Rose Garden, 'I now have responsibility. And I will have that responsibility and carry it very proudly.' 

'But I'll tell you, that responsibility could've...been made a lot easier if it was handled years ago,' the president added. 

Trump reflected on the difference between his approach and the one he was criticizing, and said, 'I like to think of myself as a very flexible person. I don't have to have one specific way.'

He did not want to say in front of the cameras how he plans to respond to the crisis.

'I don't like to say where I'm going and what I'm doing,' Trump reminded. 'I watched past administrations say, "We will attack at such-and- such a day, at such-and-such an hour.'

Turning to his companion at the press conference, King Abdullah II of Jordan, Trump said the warrior-king likely asked himself, 'Why are they saying that?'

'I'm not saying I'm doing anything one way or the other, but I'm certainly not going to be telling you,' Trump told a reporter who'd asked about a military intervention.  

The president had told a reporter asking about possible action shortly before the news conference, 'You'll see.'

During a photo-op with the Jordanian king and the two leaders' wives in the Oval Office, Trump said the massacre was 'horrible,' offering his first on-camera response to the attack.

'Horrible thing. Unspeakable,' Trump said. Speaking to King Abdullah he said, 'But I want to thank you both very much for being at the White House and we're going to have some interesting discussions.' 

The president's eldest daughter, Ivanka, now one of his top advisers, declared the strike on civilians in Syria 'atrocious' on Wednesday morning, getting in front of her father, who had yet to personally condemn the chemical weapons attack.

Trump's spokesman told reporters Tuesday during a briefing that was not televised that the onslaught that killed more than 70 people, and as many as 20 children, was 'reprehensible and cannot be ignored by the civilized world.'

The Twitter-loving leader of the nation did not address the crises in remarks at a legislative conference on Tuesday or on his social media streams, even as he praised the 'tremendous spirit & optimism' he's seen in the US since his election.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson ducked reporters' questions about the blitz Tuesday, issuing a statement later, instead, that called for an end to the 'unabashed barbarism.'

President Trump routinely begins his mornings with dispatches of his own but forwent the practice on Tuesday and Wednesday as he tended to other business. 

The president and the Jordanian king were to discuss the conflict during the White House visit that began with an Oval Office visit and concluded with a working lunch.

Abdul-Hamid Alyousef, 29, holds his twin babies who were killed during a suspected chemical weapons attack, in Khan Sheikhoun town, in the northern province of Idlib. He said he wanted the world to see their faces

 At least 11 of the more than 70 people who died in the chemical attack were children. Two are seen receiving treatment on Tuesday at a hospital

Members of the Syrian civil defense volunteers, also known as the White Helmets, and people search for survivors from the rubble following reported air-strikes on the rebel-held town of Saqba, in Eastern Ghouta, on April 4

In this photo taken on Tuesday, April 4, a Syrian man holds a suffering baby victim of alleged chemical weapons attacks in Syrian city of Idlib; pictured right is President Bashar al-Assad

A Syrian child receives treatment following the attack that the US government has said was carried out by Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad

Trump said at their Wednesday presser that the United States would be giving more money to Jordan to assist the country with refugees. 

'We will destroy ISIS and we will protect civilization. We have no choice. We will protect civilization,' Trump said of joint efforts to stabilize the region and eradicate it from terrorism.

Abdullah lauded Trump, who he'd met with once prior, telling him in response, 'I am very delighted for your vision, your holistic approach to all the challenges in our region and the dedication of your team in being able to translate your policy into action successively hopefully as we move forward. 

'The challenges we face today are many and not exclusive to my region, as I've just mentioned, they are global and particularly the threats to global security. Terrorism has no borders, no nationality, no religion, and therefore, joint action with a holistic approach, as I just mentioned Mr. President, is crucial.' 

As the officials were meeting in Washington, Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN was warning diplomats in New York that the United States could 'take our own action' in Syria if international body refuses to get involved.

Meanwhile, in New York, US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley urged the United Nations to take action. She held up pictures of poisoned children and asked,'How many more children have to die before Russia cares?'

Haley held up pictures of poisoned children and asked,'How many more children have to die before Russia cares?' 

'If Russia has the influence in Syria that it claims to have, we need to see them use it,' she said. 'We need to see them put an end to these horrific acts.' 

Less than a week ago, Haley said it was no longer a 'priority' of the United States to remove Assad from power.

Then came Tuesday's sarin gas attack.

'If we are not prepared to act, then this council will keep meeting, month after month to express outrage at the continuing use of chemical weapons and it will not end,' Haley told UN Security Council member nations Wednesday. 'We will see more conflict in Syria. We will see more pictures that we can never unsee.'

At the White House news conference Trump did not put pressure on the Kremlin, an Assad ally. He indicated that he'd be willing to work with Russia to decimate extremists that are 'all over the place' now in the Middle East.

'As far as ISIS is concerned, the United States will work with whoever it's appropriate to work with to totally eradicate ISIS and other terrorists,' Trump told a foreign reporter who was actually asking if he'd partner with Russia to stop the Syrian government from striking again, not the terrorists.

The reporter also asked about Trump's promise to establish safe zones in Syria. The president did not address that part of the question directly.

Instead he said, 'We will do what we have to do to eradicate terrorism.'

Russia was initially suggested as a possible perpetrator of the chemical weapons attack in Syria, given its previous involvement in airstrikes on rebel-held areas that housed civilians.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer rejected Russian involvement on Tuesday and pointed the finger at Assad in a statement he delivered at a lunchtime question and answer session with press that was restricted from broadcast. He also castigated Barack Obama.

'These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the past administration’s weakness and irresolution,' he said. 'President Obama said in 2012 that he would establish a "red line" against the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing.'

Asked why Trump was taking a 'potshot' at the former president instead of taking ownership of the situation, Spicer told a journalist in the room, 'What's the point of red lines? America's credibility was at stake, and I think the President wants to point out that there was a red line and they did cross it.

'We did have alternatives to regime change, and they weren’t taken,' the Trump spokesman said.

Spicer at another point said the White House does not see a correlation between its posture toward Assad and the chemical attack.

'I don't,' he stated. 'I'm not going to get into it, but I think the President is extremely alarmed at these revelations. He continues to meet with his national security team, and I think there will be further discussions around the globe with our allies as far as the appropriate action.'

Trump had promised during his campaign for president that he would establish a safe zone in Syria for nationals seeking to escape the brutality from ISIS. 

But Syria's military, with the backing from Russia and Iran, has lay waste to areas controlled by rebel forces, as well. Tuesday's chemical weapons attack was just the latest in a series of assaults that the Syrian government has been accused of carrying out on its own people.

A secure zone has yet to be set up, though Trump has talked about it since taking office as an alternative to resettling Syrian refugees in America. 

Trump's administration last week said it would apply pressure to Assad to make changes inside his country as Haley announced that the United States was not 'going to sit there and focus on getting [Assad] out.'

Haley, who just took the reigns of the UN Security Council, said Monday that the approach does not mean the US believes Assad should stay.

Assad is a 'war criminal' and 'what he’s done to his people is nothing more than disgusting,' she said.

Spicer said Tuesday the administration's new tact reflects the current 'political reality.' 

He would not say how the United States plans to respond to Assad's latest assault on the Syrian people, either, contending that he'd 'rather not get ahead' of the national security team.

However, he said the chemical weapons attack 'is not something that any civilized nation should sit back and accept or tolerate.'

Trump's secretary of state took hours on Tuesday to issue a statement decrying the tragedy after he ignored reporters asking him for comment shortly after Spicer's briefing.

When he finally sent something out, Rex Tillerson said, 'The United States strongly condemns the chemical weapons attack in Idlib province, the third allegation of the use of such weapons in the past month alone.'

'While we continue to monitor the terrible situation, it is clear that this is how Bashar al-Assad operates: with brutal, unabashed barbarism. Those who defend and support him, including Russia and Iran, should have no illusions about Assad or his intentions. 

'I think the Obama administration had a great opportunity to solve this,' Trump said about his predecessor and the 'red line' during an afternoon news conference. 'It was a great opportunity missed'

Ivanka Trump and her husband Senior Advisor Jared Kushner listen as Jordan's King Abdullah II and President Trump hold a press conference

The president's eldest daughter, now one of his top advisers, declared the strike on innocents in Syria 'atrocious' on Wednesday morning

'Anyone who uses chemical weapons to attack his own people shows a fundamental disregard for human decency and must be held accountable.'

The 'horrific conflict' requires a 'genuine ceasefire' agreement between the government and rebel forces.

'We call upon Russia and Iran, yet again, to exercise their influence over the Syrian regime and to guarantee that this sort of horrific attack never happens again,' the State Department official said. 'As the self-proclaimed guarantors to the ceasefire negotiated in Astana, Russia and Iran also bear great moral responsibility for these deaths.'

The State Department followed up on his comments by announcing Wednesday morning that it was providing an additional $566 million in humanitarian assistance to the conflict, for a sum total of $6.5 billion since 2012.

Funds pay for food assistance, shelter, drinking water, medical, protection and other relief efforts.

'This aid will help countries like Jordan host refugees until it is safe for them to return home,' said later at his news conference. 'The refugees want to return home. I know that from so many other instances. They want to return back to their home, and that's the goal of any responsible refugee policy.'

The US president did not say during the appearance whether he had changed his own position on hosting refugees in the  United States, in light of Tuesday's attack. 

A bit of a boost! King Abdullah II of Jordan pictured perching on a box during joint press conference with President Trump

King Abdullah II of Jordan held a joint press conference with President Donald Trump on Wednesday, but the royal needed some extra help to see him eye to eye with the US politician. 

The diminutive royal was photographed standing on a box behind his podium at the highly-publicized press conference, which was held in the White House Rose Garden.

Although the 5'5" royal appears to be the same height as 6'2" President Trump from the front of the stage, the yellow box he was standing on could be seen from numerous angles. 

Behind-the-scenes: King Abdullah II stood on box behind his podium 

President Trump and King Abdullah walking towards the Rose Garden showed the true difference in height between the duo 

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