"I am opposed to military action against Assad. It is not clear that military action will improve the situation for the Syrian people," Smith said. "It will be insufficient to remove Assad from power and will only make the situation worse."
Russia said it will protect its troops by shooting down missiles as well as going after the sources of the missiles. Moreover, the Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria on Sunday categorically refuted the reports of a chemical weapons attack in Duma. The Center's representatives visited the place of the alleged attack and questioned local doctors, who said that they had not received individuals with symptoms of chemical poisoning.
Smith said in the statement that the continuing US involvement in the Iraq conflict provided a lesson in the limitations of the military’s ability to unilaterally resolve massive global crises.
"At this point, we need a clear strategy from the president. What we don’t need are schizophrenic tweets that leave our allies confused… The President’s erratic tweets referencing Syria have left both our allies and our adversaries confused about his policy," he said.
Up to now, the focus of US policy in Syria has been entirely on combating the Islamic State terror group (outlawed in Russia), Smith, the ranking on Democrat on the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, said.
The Syrian government has denied using chemical weapons saying the incident was staged by the Jaish al-Islam terror group to provide pretext for a foreign intervention.
