JAMES MATTIS/MEDIA/SYRIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday [9-5-18] said he did not discuss assassinating Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, disputing an account in a forthcoming book by journalist Bob Woodward. Trump, speaking to reporters during a visit with Kuwaiti ruler Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, said a possible assassination was ‘never even discussed’…Trump wanted to have Assad assassinated last year but Defense Secretary James Mattis ignored the request, according to the book ‘Fear: Trump in the White House.’ Excerpts were published by the Washington Post on Tuesday [9-4-18]. Trump also said that if there is a slaughter in the Idlib province of Syria, the United States will be very angry. The Syrian military shelled Idlib, the last stronghold of active rebellion against al-Assad, on Wednesday as a war monitor said insurgents blew up a bridge in anticipation of a government offensive.”
–Reuters Staff, “Trump says he did not discuss assassinating Syria’s Assad,” Reuters, September 5, 2018 11:39 am