"I don't see a future Syria that has (Assad) as the leader of that government".
"Clearly, that requires the participation of the regime with the support of their allies", Tillerson said and added, "and we're hopeful that Russian Federation will choose to play a constructive role in supporting ceasefires through their own Astana talks, but also, ultimately, through Geneva".
As his administration used USA intelligence to pressure Moscow over its support for Syrian President Bashar Assad, Russian President Vladimir Putin parroted back Trump's doubts about the reliability of US spy agencies.
The United States, Britain and France have proposed a revised draft resolution to the 15-member U.N. Security Council that is similar to a text they circulated last week pushing Syria's government to cooperate with investigators.
President Donald Trump, in his biggest foreign policy decision since taking office in January, ordered the strikes after concluding that Syria waged a nerve gas attack in rebel-held territory that killed 87 people, many of them children.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has issued "an ultimatum to Russia", AP is reporting. In an accompanying four-page memo, the US accused Russian Federation of a disinformation campaign and aiding Syria in covering up the gruesome attack, which killed more than 80 people. I was trying to draw a distinction of the tactic of using airplanes to drop chemical weapons on population centres. Instead, the U.S.is hoping to use the visit - the first by a Trump Cabinet official to Russia - to convey expectations to Moscow and allow Russians time to respond.
Though meant to punish Assad for a chemical weapons attack, the US strikes last week also served to refocus the world's attention on the bloody war in Syria.
One killed, 3 injured in explosion at US Army plant in Missouri
One person has died and four were injured Tuesday after an explosion at an Army ammunition plant in Missouri, officials said. In the past 17 years, it has manufactured more than 17 billion rounds of small-caliber ammunition at the Independence plant.
"Russia's allegations fit with a pattern of deflecting blame from the regime and attempting to undermine the credibility of its opponents", the report read. The retaliatory strikes, which Obama declined to approve after blaming Assad for an even deadlier chemical weapons attack in 2013, hit an air base where Russian troops were also present, although none are believed to have been killed.
The former ExxonMobil chief executive noted that holding such talks would require the participation of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime along with its allies. "Or Russia can maintain its alliance" with Syria and Iran.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon, "It is very clear who planned this attack, who authorized this attack and who orchestrated this attack".
Trump may not have much to offer Russian Federation now.
The U.S. attack led the Kremlin to suspend an agreement between the two countries meant to lower the risk of in-flight collisions of U.S. and Russian aircraft in the region. Trump's cruise missile order restored the believability of Washington using its military might in Syria.
Mattis has repeatedly warned that the US military remained ready to act again should Assad use chemical weapons, saying on Tuesday that Assad would "pay a very, very stiff price".
But they were divided about how to deal with Syria and Moscow.
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