Despite Jim Mattis' unwillingness to discuss potential operations, President Donald Trump appeared to telegraph forthcoming strike against the Syrian regime. | Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images Mattis: No decision yet to attack Syria

No decision has been made to attack the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad in retaliation for its use of chemical weapons, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told Congress Thursday.

Testifying before the House Armed Services Committee, Mattis said he believes the regime used chemical weapons in a recent attack, but largely avoided discussing the likelihood the U.S. would launch a retaliatory attack. President Donald Trump’s top national security officials are set to meet later Thursday to discuss potential responses.


"Today, our president did say that he's not made a decision,” Mattis said. “When I leave here, I go to a meeting where the National Security Council will be meeting on this, and we will take forward the various options to the president.”

"I believe there was a chemical attack, and we're looking for the actual evidence," Mattis added, noting the U.S. is seeking to get international inspectors on the ground to make that determination.

He also pledged to notify congressional leaders before any attack against the Syrian regime and to fully brief lawmakers as soon as possible.

"We'll keep open lines of communication. There will be notification to the leadership, of course, prior to the attack," Mattis told lawmakers. "But we'll give a full report to the Congress itself probably as rapidly as possible."

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Despite Mattis' unwillingness to discuss potential operations, President Donald Trump appeared to telegraph forthcoming strike against the Syrian regime Wednesday, writing on Twitter that missiles "will be coming, nice new and 'smart!'"

On Thursday, Trump insisted on Twitter that he hadn't abandoned the element of surprise, tweeting that an attack in Syria could happen "very soon or not so soon at all!"

And Armed Services Democrats seized on Trump’s commentary during Thursday’s hearing, where Mattis and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joe Dunford detailed the Pentagon’s budget request for the new 2019 fiscal year.

"When the president of the United States says these missiles will be coming…that sounds to me and to the rest of the world like a decision," said Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas).

Mattis also contended Trump has the authority to conduct attacks in Syria, but numerous Democrats voiced concerns over the legal basis.

“It is hard to find a legal justification for that military strike in Syria absent congressional approval,” the panel’s top Democrat, Adam Smith of Washington state told Mattis. “So, whatever you decide to do, I hope you would include the legislative branch."

Pressed on the strategy toward the Assad regime and the long-running Syrian civil war, Mattis said the administration's policy is simply to defeat the Islamic State in Syria and pursue a diplomatic end to the civil war there.

"Both the last administration and this one made very clear that our role in Syria is the defeat of ISIS," Mattis explained. "We are not going to engage in the civil war itself."

But, referencing a missile strike against the Assad regime just over a year ago by the Trump administration in response to a gas attack, Mattis several times called the latest reported chemical attack "inexcusable."

"Some things are simply inexcusable, beyond the pale and in the worst interests of not just the chemical weapons convention, but of civilization itself," he said.

