US does not rule out airstrike against Syria: Mattis

By Safvan Allahverdi

WASHINGTON

The U.S. has not ruled out military strikes against the Bashar al-Assad regime in response to a suspected chemical gas attack on civilians, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Monday.

"I do not rule out anything right now," Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon, while hosting Qatari emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani.

"The first thing we have to look at is why are chemical weapons still being used at all when Russia was the framework guarantor of removing all chemical weapons, and so working with our allies and partners from NATO to Qatar and elsewhere, we are going to address this issue," Mattis said, responding to a question on whether the U.S. is capable of striking Assad's chemical weapons facilities.

Assad regime forces struck targets in Eastern Ghouta's Douma district on Saturday midnight using a toxic gas, which left at least 78 civilians dead, according to Syria Civil Defense, also known as White Helmets.

The Damascus suburb has been under siege for the last five years and humanitarian access to the area, which is home to 400,000 people, has been completely cut off.

In the past eight months, forces of the Assad regime have intensified their siege of Eastern Ghouta, making it nearly impossible for food or medicine to get into the district and leaving thousands of patients in need of treatment.