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© unknownSyrian President Assad • US President Donald Trump
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he did not discuss the possibility of assassinating Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"That was never discussed," Trump told reporters when asked to comment on the matter.

The statement by US President Donald Trump comes after a Washington Post journalist, Bob Woodward, said in his book that Trump was outraged and wanted to assassinate Syrian President Bashar Assad after he learned of a suspected chemical attack on Khan Shaykhun in April 4, 2017.

Trump dubbed Woodward's book "total fiction," saying that "this was never considered, nor would it be considered."

A day earlier, the president of the United States alerted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad via Twitter against a military operation in Syria's Idlib province, which remained a stronghold of terrorist insurgency in the country.

According to the Washington Post, the book shows that top US leaders disobeyed Trump's orders to limit what they saw as dangerous behavior. The publication shows Trump as impulsive in his decisions and a climate of chaos and nervousness pervading his team.

According to Woodward's text, Trump told his Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, that he wanted the Syrian president killed after news of chemical attacks in Syria in April 2017. Mattis replied that he would, however, developed a limited air strike plan to prevent Assad from being threatened. According to the book, Mattis told his associates that the US president acted like a child.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the book was "made up stories, many of them by disgruntled employees told to make the president look bad."

In an interview with the Daily Caller, Trump denied the book's allegations, calling it "dirty," saying it's another bad book. The president also said that Woodward has "many problems of credibility."

Bob Woodward gained fame after writing about the Watergate scandal in the 1970s. Since then he has written several books about the backstage in the White House. His new book will be released on September 11.
About the Author:

Paul Antonopoulos is a Research Fellow at the Center for Syncretic Studies. He has an MA in International Relations and is interested in Great Power Rivalry as well as the International Relations and Political Economy of the Middle East and Latin America.