Chrissie Thompson

cthompson@enquirer.com

After his Syrian regime apparently used chemical weapons against civilians, President Bashar Assad should be tried as a war criminal, Ohio Gov. John Kasich said Friday.

He also called the missile strike President Donald Trump ordered Thursday against a Syrian airbase "appropriate and necessary."

When Kasich, a Republican, ran for president in 2015 and 2016, he criticized then-President Barack Obama for inaction in Syria and called for U.S. troops to enter the country. Although he said he wanted Assad out of power, he opposed using U.S. troops to take him out.

"I would only go to Syria to destroy ISIS. I would not use U.S. troops to depose Assad," Kasich told CBS News in February 2016. "But I would support the rebels there. It's OK to support those people who share your view. But for the United States to be embroiled in a civil war in Syria against Assad I think is a big mistake.

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