U.S. threatens stronger response to Syrian chemical weapons

President Donald Trump's national security adviser issued a crystal clear warning to Syria on Sept. 10, 2018, stressing that if the Syrian regime uses chemical weapons again, it will face a "much stronger" response than before.

"We've tried to convey the message in recent days that if there's a third use of chemical weapons, the response will be much stronger," White House National Security Adviser John Bolton said Sept. 10, 2018, "I can say we have been in consultations with the British and the French who have joined us in the second strike, and they also agree that another use of chemical weapons will result in a much stronger response."

The United Nations has accused Syria of launching dozens of chemical weapons attacks using both sarin and chlorine gas, and in response to two particularly devastating incidents, the US used military force to persuade the Syrian regime to adhere to acceptable warfighting methods.

The US first struck Syria on April 7, 2017, striking the Shayrat Airbase in Syria with 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from the Mediterranean Sea in response to the use of chemical weapons (sarin) at Khan Shaykhun just three days earlier.

The chemical weapons attack, attributed to the Syrian regime, reportedly killed more than 70 people and injured over 550 more, at the time making it the deadliest such attack of the Syrian civil war since the chemical weapons attack in Ghouta four years prior.

The devastating attack just a few months into Trump's presidency reportedly led the president to call Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and demand the assassination of the Syrian leadership. "Let's f---ing kill him! Let's go in. Let's kill the f---ing lot of them," Trump told Mattis, according to an excerpt from Bob Woodward's new book "Fear: Trump in the White House" the subject of much debate and controversy.

President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis.

(Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Dominique Pineiro)

The president, Mattis, and the Pentagon have all denied that the conversations detailed in the book ever took place.

Almost one year after the first incident, the Syrian regime allegedly launched a second major chemical weapons assault on a suburb in Damascus, killing dozens of people in Douma. The US, supported by Britain and France, conducted coordinated strikes on Syria's chemical weapons facilities, crippling but not eliminating the regime's chemical weapons capabilities.

The strikes came from both sea and air, whereas the previous strikes were launched by two destroyers.

Syrian, Russian, and pro-regime forces are now massing around Idlib, the last rebel stronghold in Syria, and the US government has intelligence that the Syrian government may again use chemical weapons. The Pentagon has already begun preparing military options should the president decide to respond militarily to any use of chemical weapons in the Idlib offensive.

"The president expects us to have military options in the event that chemical weapons are used," Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford said Sept. 8, 2018, "We have provided updates to him on the development of those military options."

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders warned that the US will respond "swiftly and appropriately" should Assad use chemical weapons against the Syrian people, and Pentagon spokesman Col. Rob Manning explained Sept. 10, 2018, that "the use of chemical weapons will not be tolerated by the US or the coalition."

"As you have seen in the past, any use of chemical weapons has resulted in a very swift response by the United States and our coalition partners. We have communicated that to Damascus, and we hope that they adhere to it."

This article originally appeared on Business Insider. Follow @BusinessInsider on Twitter.