President Trump is “not a fan of Assad,” as he told reporters on Tuesday in a joint press conference with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri.
“I certainly think that what he’s done to that country and to humanity is horrible,” Trump said about Syrian president Bashar Assad. “So I have been saying that for a long time. I am not somebody that will stand by and let him get away with what he tried to do.”
Trump criticized his predecessor, President Barack Obama, for not retaliating against Assad for crossing the “red line” in Syria. Obama said in a 2012 speech that Assad’s use of chemical weapons would be a red line he shouldn’t cross, but did not punish Assad when he used chemical weapons in 2013.
“Had President Obama gone across that line and done what he should have done, I don’t believe you’d have Russia and I don’t believe you’d have Iran to anywhere near the extent and maybe not at all in Syria today,” Trump said.
After an April 2017 sarin gas attack in Syria that many believe was instigated by Assad, Trump ordered missile strikes at Syrian military targets in retaliation.
“We had 58 out of 58 — I guess you could say we had 59 out of 59 when we launched the Tomahawk missiles,” Trump said, referencing the launching of 59 missiles, one of which did not hit its intended target. “I’m not a fan of Assad.”
During a much-anticipated meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the G-20 summit this month, Trump brokered a ceasefire in Syria which he said resulted in “a lot of lives saved.”
In his press conference with Hariri, Trump also took the time to answer questions about the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, and said that, “We’ve made more progress in the last four or five months than previous — I can say the previous administration made in eight years.”
