Western governments are expressing outrage in the wake of a suspected chemical attackin Douma, Syria.
News analyst Charlie Sennott described images of victims with blue tinges to their skin being rushed to the hospital, and called the attack “horrific.”
“Forty-two have died from the attacks and hundreds more are suffering,” he said on BPR Monday. “This is just one more terrible chapter in a war that seems to never end.”
Sennott criticized the Trump administration for what he says is unclear policy surrounding Syria. He referenced the president’s tweets, in which he says he wants to remove American troops in Syria, while other officials have said the U.S. should maintain its presence there.
"What’s the plan? We’ve got 2,000 troops on the ground there,” Sennott said. “Tremendous inconsistencies in policy, and a lot of chaos, a lot of tragedy, death and a horrific chemical attack.”
Douma is a rebel-held suburb near Damascus, and the chemical attack appeared to sway the rebels there as they agreed to head north as a part of a deal with the Syrian government.
Aid workers say Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime is responsible for the attack, but his allies call that claim “bogus.”
“The Syrian government forces are moving in on Douma, and these were apparently barrel bombs that were just leveling neighborhoods in this city,” said Sennott.
President Trump saidearlier today he’d soon make a decision about the U.S. response to the attack.
“We have ... President Trump talking about how there’s going to be this swift response," he said. "What that response will be is really uncertain.”
Charlie Sennott is a news analyst at WGBH, where he also heads up The GroundTruth Project.
