President Barack Obama will meet with his national security team Saturday to discuss the deteriorating situation in Syria, the White House announced in a statement.
Pressure has been mounting for the United States to intervene after images of an alleged chemical attack on civilians surfaced last week. Syrian rebels and activists that hundreds were killed in the attack outside Damascus last Wednesday, most of them women and children. Previously, the president had called the use of chemical weapons in the ongoing conflict a "red line."
The White House said Saturday that the president would discuss the reports with his national security advisers. From the statement:
"The President is meeting with his national security team this morning to discuss the reports of a chemical weapons attack by the Syrian government in Syria earlier this week. As we have previously stated, the President has directed the intelligence community to gather facts and evidence so that we can determine what occurred in Syria. Once we ascertain the facts, the President will make an informed decision about how to respond. We have a range of options available, and we are going to act very deliberately so that we're making decisions consistent with our national interest as well as our assessment of what can advance our objectives in Syria."