Vice President Mike Pence delivered a stern warning to the Syrian regime while speaking in Peru at the First Plenary Session of the Summit of the Americas on Saturday.
“Assad and his patrons would do well not to test our resolve or the capabilities of the Armed Forces of the United States,” warned Pence.
“As you are all well aware, last night, at President Trump’s direction, the United States, together with our allies France and the United Kingdom, launched precision strikes to cripple Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad’s chemical weapons program,” he said. “We acted in response to Assad’s horrific use of chemical weapons on his own citizens one week ago, an attack that horrified and shocked the conscience of the world. The United States assesses that the Syrian regime was responsible for this attack, and that chlorine and possibly nerve agents were used.”
The Vice President agreed with the statement by President Trump that the actions by the Syrian government were the “crimes of a monster” and praised the United Kingdom and France in helping the United States in striking Syria.
“We delivered a clear and unambiguous message to the Syrian regime: The United States and our allies will not tolerate the use of chemical weapons against innocent men, women, and children; and we are prepared to deter any further use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime,” he said.
Pence also gave a call-to-action for the representatives at the summit to aid the United States in standing up to the Syrians.
“But today, I call upon every nation in this hemisphere of freedom to support this military action taken by the United States and our allies and to support it publicly, and also to add to that your condemnation expressed by nearly everyone here of Assad’s regime’s use of chemical weapons,” the vice president said. “The civilized world must send a message of resolve and unity that we will not accept such barbaric attacks now or ever.”
Watch the speech below: