Washington (April 5, 2017) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement today in the wake of the chemical weapons attack in the Idlib province of Syria.

“I am horrified by the murder of dozens of innocent Syrian civilians by poison gas when Bashar al-Assad’s air force dropped barrel-bombs on their neighborhood. The use of chemical weapons is barbaric and must never happen. President Trump must forcefully and immediately lead international diplomatic intervention to hold Russia, Iran, and Syria accountable and work to bring an end to these atrocities and the Syrian civil war. President Trump must demand President Putin keep his promise to ensure Assad gets rid of all of his chemical weapons, enforce the ceasefire Russia brokered together with Iran and Turkey, ensure unrestricted delivery of humanitarian relief to all the victims of war, and end all military support to the Assad government until it agrees to negotiate with the opposition about Syria’s future government.

“Now is President Trump’s opportunity to make good on his tough talk and to launch a bold new diplomatic initiative to hold Russia and President Assad to account and to bring this devastating war to an end. Only diplomatic engagement, not military escalation, will end the Syrian civil war.”