President Donald Trump on Monday condemned a suspected chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held town in Syria that killed dozens of people and said he would make a decision on a response, probably by the end of the day.
Speaking at a Cabinet meeting, Trump said he was talking to military leaders and would decide who was responsible for the attack -- whether it was Russia, or Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government, or Iran, or all of them together.
International bodies led by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) were trying to establish exactly what happened on Saturday in Douma, a besieged town in eastern Ghouta near Damascus.
The Syrian government and its ally Russia have denied involvement in the attack.
U.S. government sources said on Monday the administration had not yet conclusively determined whether the attack was carried out by Assad's forces. Its initial assessment suggested that a nerve agent was used but further evidence was needed to determine what specifically it was, the sources said.
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said he would not rule out military action such as air strikes if blame was proven.
"I don't rule out anything right now," he told reporters in Washington.
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