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		</div><p>Donald Trump&#8217;s national security adviser has urged Russia to re-evaluate its support for Syrian president Bashar Assad, leaving open the possibility of additional US military action against Syria.</p>
<p>In his first televised interview, HR McMaster highlighted dual US goals of defeating the so-called &#8216;Islamic State&#8217; group and removing Mr Assad from power.</p>
<p>As US secretary of state Rex Tillerson makes the Trump administration&#8217;s first official trip this week to Russia, Mr McMaster said Russia will have to decide whether it wants to continue backing a &#8220;murderous regime&#8221;.</p>
<p>US president Mr Trump is weighing up his next step after ordering air strikes last week.</p>
<p><i>&#8220;It&#8217;s very difficult to understand how a political solution could result from the continuation of the Assad regime,&#8221;</i> Mr McMaster told Fox News Sunday.</p>
<p><i>&#8220;Now, we are not saying that we are the ones who are going to effect that change. What we are saying is, other countries have to ask themselves some hard questions.</p>
<p>&#8220;Russia should ask themselves &#8230; Why are we supporting this murderous regime that is committing mass murder of its own population?&#8221;</i></p>
<p>He said Russia should also be asked how it did not know that Syria was planning a chemical attack since it had advisers at the Syrian airfield.</p>
<p><i>&#8220;Right now, I think everyone in the world sees Russia as part of the problem,&#8221;</i> Mr McMaster said.</p>
<p>https://youtu.be/WatNAyR_AqA</p>
<p>After last Tuesday&#8217;s chemical attack in Syria, Mr Trump said his attitude toward Mr Assad &#8220;has changed very much&#8221;. Mr Tillerson also said &#8220;steps are under way&#8221; to organise a coalition to remove him from power.</p>
<p>With US politicians calling on Mr Trump to consult with congress, government officials sent mixed signals on the scope of future US involvement.</p>
<p>Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations, described regime change in Syria as a US priority and inevitable, while Mr Tillerson suggested that last week&#8217;s American air strikes in retaliation for the chemical attack had not really changed US priorities toward ousting the Syrian leader.</p>
<p>Mr McMaster said the goals of fighting &#8216;IS&#8217; and ousting Syria&#8217;s president were somewhat &#8220;simultaneous&#8221; and that the objective of the missile strike was to send a &#8220;strong political message to Assad&#8221; to stop using chemical weapons.</p>
<p>He did not rule out additional strikes if Mr Assad continues to engage in atrocities against rebel forces with either chemical or conventional weapons.</p>
<p><i>&#8220;We are prepared to do more,&#8221;</i> he said. <i>&#8220;The president will make whatever decision he thinks is in the best interest of the American people.&#8221;</i></p>
<p>While reluctant to put significant troops on the ground in Syria, the US has struggled for years to prevent Mr Assad from strengthening his hold on power.</p>
<p>US-backed rebels groups have long pleaded for more US intervention and complained that Washington has only fought the Islamic State group.</p>
<p>Mr Trump&#8217;s decision to launch the strikes &#8211; an action former US president Barack Obama declined to take after a 2013 chemical attack &#8211; has raised optimism among rebels that the current US leader will confront Mr Assad.</p>
<p>Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the number two Republican in the US Senate, praised Mr Trump&#8217;s initial missile strike for sending a message to Mr Assad, Russia, Iran and North Korea that &#8220;there&#8217;s a new administration in charge&#8221;.</p>
<p>But he added that Mr Trump now needs to work with congress to set a future course.</p>
<p><i>&#8220;Congress needs to work with the president to try and deal with this long-term strategy, lack of strategy, really, in Syria,&#8221;</i> he said.</p>
<p><i>&#8220;We haven&#8217;t had one for six years during the Obama administration, and 400,000 civilians have died and millions of people have been displaced internally and externally in Europe and elsewhere.&#8221;</i></p>
<p>Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the foreign relations committee, agreed. <i>&#8220;What we saw was a reaction to the use of chemical weapons, something I think many of us supported,&#8221;</i> he said.</p>
<p><i>&#8220;But what we did not see is a coherent policy on how we&#8217;re going to deal with the civil war and also deal with (IS).&#8221;</i></p>
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