Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should step down, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Wednesday, holding him responsible for the death of "nearly 1 million people" during the seven-year-long war in Syria.
As the United States and its Western allies are considering military options against Syria over its alleged use of chemical weapons in Douma, Ankara has resumed its calls for "regime change."
"The Assad regime should absolutely leave power in Syria. It is not the first time the Assad regime used chemical weapons. Leaving the chemical weapons aside, he has killed nearly one million people using other weapons through aerial bombing, barrel bombs and conventional weapons," Çavuşoğlu told reporters in Ankara.
"Thus, this individual should leave power immediately and we should move on to a political process," he added.
When asked about a possible military action against the Syrian government by Western countries, "We will wait and see," Çavuşoğlu said.
U.S. President Donald Trump vowed on Twitter that missiles would be launched at Syria following Saturday's alleged chemical attack. However, the U.S. and its allies are "still assessing the intelligence" needed to prove Syrian government conducted a recent alleged chemical attack in Syria, U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said Wednesday.
The story was promptly picked up by the White Helmets, which were posting unverified footage of the aftermath of the alleged attack, with claims that up to 70 people had died of "widespread suffocation."
