Key U.S. senator denounces Syrian government 'butchery'

Senator John McCain (R-AZ), U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman, arrives for a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., April 4, 2017. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator John McCain said on Tuesday that strikes in Syria, including a suspected chemical attack, show that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad "believes he can commit war crimes with impunity." "The question that confronts the United States now is whether we will take any action to disabuse him of this murderous notion," said McCain, the Republican chairman of the influential Senate Armed Services Committee, in a statement. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle)