"It is really important for our allies like Britain and France to stand with us," Rep. William “Mac” Thornberry said of the potential of U.S. airstrikes in Syria. | Eric Thayer/Getty Images Republicans call for action against Assad in wake of poison attack in Syria Lawmakers push for military strikes as Trump weighs a U.S. response.

A growing number of Republican officials are calling for stronger U.S. action against President Bashar al-Assad of Syria in the wake of a deadly poison attack in the country, with President Donald Trump saying he will not rule out a military response in the region.

Assad has faced condemnation around the globe after activists blamed his government for the use of chemical weapons that killed at least 40 in the opposition-held town of Douma on Saturday. The episode prompted a series of GOP officials to denounce Assad and call for retaliation from the U.S.


Rep. William “Mac” Thornberry (R-Texas), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, told Fox News on Monday that the U.S. should “

“absolutely” consider a new round of airstrikes against Syria to punish Assad for the attack in the Damascus suburb.

“We should do so with those allies to make it an international condemnation of chemical weapons,” Thornberry said. “It is really important for our allies like Britain and France to stand with us.”

Thornberry was one of several top Republican officials to suggest that the Trump administration should conduct missile strikes against Assad by targeting military targets in Syria, as he did last April after a chemical weapons attack in the town of Khan Shaykhun, in northwest Syria, that killed roughly 100 people.

“He should do so again, and demonstrate that Assad will pay a price for his war crimes,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said of the 2017 strike in a statement on Sunday.

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Thornberry agreed on Monday. “I thought that made very good sense,” he said, “and it seems to me we ought to consider doing it again with our allies.”

Sen. Mike Lee, a libertarian-leaning Republican from Utah, called on Trump to seek approval from Congress before any strike against Syria.

“The use of chemical weapons absolutely requires a response from the United States,” Lee said in a statement. “But if that response is going to include military force, the president of the United States should come to Congress and ask for authorization before military force is used.”

Trump, who just last week voiced support for pulling U.S. ground troops out of Syria altogether, took a tougher line against Assad and his ally President Vladimir Putin of Russia after facing criticism from other top Republican officials.

At a Cabinet meeting on Monday, the president told reporters that “nothing is off the table” regarding military action in Syria, and vowed to make a decision on a U.S. response to the attack in the next 24 to 48 hours. Over the weekend, Trump tweeted that Putin and Russia were “responsible for backing Animal Assad,” warning that they would pay a “Big price” for their complicity in the Syrians' “mindless” deaths.

“It was atrocious. It was horrible,” Trump said of the attack on Monday. “You don’t see things like that. As bad as the news is around the world, you just don’t see those images. We are studying that situation extremely closely.”

The remarks came after Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis also left the door open to a military response in Syria.

Some Republican leaders, several of whom have urged Trump to stand up to Putin’s support of Assad, said the chemical weapons attack could prompt a response against not just Assad but also Moscow.

“We need to make Bashar Assad pay a price,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) told CNN on Monday. “There are a number of options on the table, and frankly, to the extent that we can ascertain what role the Russians had, I do think sanctions and strong measures are called for with President Putin also.”

Syria and Russia have denied that the Syrian government was involved in the assault.

Moscow over the weekend warned against any “military intervention” by the U.S. in Syria over the chemical attack, with the Russian Foreign Ministry cautioning that action would result in the “most serious consequences.”

