Story highlights The US launched cruise missiles Thursday

Senior officials briefed reporters Tuesday

Washington (CNN) The White House said Tuesday the Syrian regime and Russia are trying to "confuse the world community about who is responsible for using chemical weapons against the Syrian people in this and earlier attacks."

Senior administration officials stopped short of saying there was definitive proof of Russian collusion with Syria on the chemical attack last week, but the administration bluntly accused the Russian government of helping the Syrian regime cover-up chemical weapons still in the country.

"I think it's clear that the Russians are trying to cover up what happened there," one senior administration official said.

President Donald Trump authorized cruise missile strikes against President Bashar al-Assad's military in Syria last week after the regime used sarin gas on their own people, including children. The strikes, which saw 59 tomahawk missiles launched from ships in the eastern Mediterranean, hit the base used to launch the chemical attack.

Trump, in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, said that despite the action he took on the use of chemical weapons, the United States would not be "going into Syria."

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