President Trump is weighing the possibility of launching military strikes against Syria, and calling out strongman Bashar al-Assad for this week's horrific chemical weapons attack.

And his secretary of state Rex Tillerson told reporters Thursday that the U.S. is already exploring the enlistment of an international coalition to oust Assad.

'What Assad did is terrible,' the president told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Florida, where he will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

He called the use of sarin poison gas an 'egregious crime' and said 'it shouldn’t have happened. And it shouldn't be allowed to happen.'

The president was evasive on the question of what the U.S. might do about the 72 confirmed dead and countless more who suffered injuries, however.

'I think what happened in Syria is a disgrace to humanity,' Trump said, 'and he’s there, and I guess he’s running things, so I guess something should happen.'

President Donald Trump said Thursday aboard Air Force One that Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad should pay a price for this week's civilian chemical gas attack: 'I guess he’s running things, so I guess something should happen'

Trump is 'deadly serious' about the possibility of military strikes, an administration official told DailyMail.com

His secretary of state, however, was less diplomatic, describing a long-term effort to remove the Syrian leader from power.

'The process by which Assad would leave,' Rex Tillerson told reporters, 'is something that I think requires an international community effort, both to first defeat ISIS within Syria, to stabilize the Syrian country to avoid further civil war, and then to work collectively with our partners around the world through a political process that would lead to Assad leaving.'

Asked if he and Trump planned to organize such a group of nations, Tillerson paused and then said: 'Those steps are underway.'

Trump also said aboard Air Force One that reports that he has told members of Congress about a plan for military action were inaccurate, according to a television pool report.

CBS News describes a military briefing in Trump's future as a discussion between the president and Defense Secretary James Mattis that will include talk of cruise missile strikes from U.S. Navy vessels, possibly aimed at command and control headquarters, suspected chemical weapons facilities – and even Syrian military troops.

CNN had reported three hours earlier that Trump was 'making calls to senior members of Congress saying he is seriously considering something he said he would never do, not that long ago, which is military action in Syria.'

Agony: Syrian father Abdul Hamid al-Yousef was pictured cradling the bodies of his dead twins after they were killed in the chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun, in the rebel-held central province of Idlib, Syria

Russia finally condemned the ghastly chemical weapons attack on Thursday despite being allied with Bashar al-Assad against Islamist rebels in Syria

The discussions were said to be exploratory in nature, with no decisions made about a green-light.

But 'this is now on the table,' CNN said.

A Trump administration official who was granted anonymity in order to speak freely told DailyMail.com on Thursday that part of the president's strategy is to 'telegraph to Assad – and to Russia – that he's deadly serious.'

It also may be intended to rattle a saber in the direction of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose army also operates out of Syria in defense of Assad's regime.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is scheduled to meet with Putin next week in Moscow.

Trump said Wednesday during a Rose Garden press conference with Jordan's King Abdullah that his view of how to handle the Syrian crisis changed when he saw the impact of the 'heinous' chemical attack on small children.

'Yesterday's chemical attack, a chemical attack that was so horrific in Syria against innocent people, including women, small children and even beautiful little babies – their deaths were an affront to humanity,' Trump said.

Heartbreak: Disturbing footage shows Syrian father Abdul Hamid al-Yousef crying uncontrollably over the graves of his wife and two children who were killed in a suspected sarin gas attack this week

Target: The massacre by Bashar al-Assad's forces has changed Trump's view of the Syrian leader and could lead to military strikes against him

'These heinous actions by the Assad regime cannot be tolerated. The United States stands with our allies across the globe to condemn this horrific attack and all other horrific attacks, for that matter,' the president added.

If the U.S. were to take military action against Syria's Ba'athist government, a new front in the country's civil war would almost certainly open up.

And with the Middle East increasingly taking sides in the conflict, the broader geopolitical consequences would be hard to predict.

Syria has become largely a client state of Russia, which has been its military ally for 61 years, and of Iran, which has poured ground troops and a reported $9 billion dollars of military aid into Damascus.

Other supporters of Assad's government include Venezuela, North Korea and the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group.

Backing the rebels are the U.S., the UK, France, Turkey and predominantly Sunni Arab League states including Qatar, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

The greatest dangers for Trump would be the possibility of a diplomatic freeze with Moscow and new complications in the fight against ISIS's fundamentalist and self-declared 'caliphate.'

Russia began providing military air and ground support, and other direct help, to Assad in September 2015, a move that tilted the war decidedly in his favor.

Since then there have been six United National Security Council votes where Russia has vetoed resolutions calling for new international sanctions against Syria.

As it weighs potential attack plans, the Pentagon will have to consider that Russian ground forces and bombers are present at practically every Syrian military base.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters on Thursday that 'an international community effort' would be needed to oust Assad, and 'those steps are underway'

One measured response could be a guided missile strike on a carefully chosen target associated with the chemical weapons attack – one where Russian troops and equipment would likely be absent.

It's not clear how much the U.S. knows about where Assad stores additional chemical stockpiles.

The wrong move could trigger a response from Russian president Vladimir Putin that Trump doesn't want to see.

Dmitry Peskov, Putin's press secretary, said this week that Damascus and Moscow 'enjoy a relationship of cooperation, of exchange of views and full mutual support.'

Peskov also claimed that Assad's army is 'the only real power in Syria that can resist terrorists on the ground.'

Syria maintains that it didn't use chemical weapons this week, instead claiming a government airstrike on a rebel position hit a munitions factory that was secretly stockpiling chemical weapons, releasing a nerve agent into the atmosphere.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem told reporters in Damascus that 'the Syrian Arab Army did not and will not use such weapons, even against the terrorists who are targeting our people.'

The option of doing nothing is not one Trump relishes.

He was frequently critical during his campaign of former president Barack Obama's failure to act militarily following Syria's 2013 chemical weapons attack, which crossed a behavioral 'red line' Obama had previously drawn.

Obama initially suggested that American bombs could start falling, but later reversed course.

Assad ultimately acknowledged the existence of what turned out to be the world's third-largest stockpile of such chemical agents, and claimed to have surrendered them.

'An unacceptable massacre': World leaders condemn chemical attack Pope Francis has called the suspected chemical weapons attack 'an unacceptable massacre.' The pope said Wednesday that he was 'watching with horror at the latest events in Syria', and said he 'strongly deplored the unacceptable massacre.' French President Francois Hollande accused Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad of being responsible for the carnage. 'Those who support this regime can once again reflect on the enormity of their political, strategic and moral responsibility,' he said. German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday branded the deadly suspected chemical attack in Syria a 'war crime' and demanded Russia and Iran put pressure on President Assad. Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri says people should not be shocked by the chemical attack because the international community is allowing such acts to happen. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said that the use of chemical weapons is 'illegal and abhorrent.' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the world must act to rid Syria of chemical weapons. Advertisement

But in 2013, citizen Trump was openly hostile to the idea of U.S. military intervention.

'The only reason President Obama wants to attack Syria is to save face over his very dumb RED LINE statement. Do NOT attack Syria,' he tweeted at the time.

'President Obama, do not attack Syria. There is no upside and tremendous downside. Save your "powder" for another (and more important) day!' read another of Trump's Twitter messages.

Now Trump finds himself commanding about 1,000 U.S. ground troops who are already in Syria, trying to isolate the ISIS capital of Raqqa and prepare for what will likely be a fully fledged military attack.

CNN could not confirm what kinds of targets the Pentagon might strike if Trump and Defense Secretary James Mattis decide to move forward.

But the network did report, based on a congressional source's information, that Syria only has access to six airstrips for takeoffs and landings.

'Airstrikes would not be that hard to successfully use to take out at least Syrian air capability,' that would mean.

The possibility of striking chemical weapons sites is also under consideration.

John McCain and Lindsey Graham, two Republican senators, said in a statement that an international coalition should collaborate 'to ground Assad's air force.'

'We agree with the President that Assad has crossed a line with his latest use of chemical weapons. The message from the United States must be that this will not stand. We must show that no foreign power can or will protect Assad now. He must pay a punitive cost for this horrific attack,' they declared.

'In addition to other measures, the United States should lead an international coalition to ground Assad's air force. This capability provides Assad a strategic advantage in his brutal slaughter of innocent civilians, both through the use of chemical weapons as well as barrel bombs, which kill far more men, women and children on a daily basis.'

On Tuesday the White House said ousting Assad unilaterally is, at its heart, impractical.

'There is not a fundamental option of regime change, as there has been in the past,' press secretary Sean Spicer said.