Ivanka Trump may have played an influential role in her father's decision to launch missile strikes on an airbase operated by the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to her brother Eric.
United States President Donald Trump ordered the military operation last Friday in retaliation for a suspected chemical attack in Idlib province, which killed 87 people including many children.
Mr Trump, who has blamed the Assad regime for the attack, said he was compelled to act after seeing the disturbing images of injured children caught up in the deadly incident.
But his decision to bomb the air base may have also been influenced by Ivanka, who said she was “heartbroken” and “outraged” over the incident, according to Eric.
“Ivanka is a mother of three kids and she has influence. I’m sure she said: ‘Listen, this is horrible stuff,’" Eric Trump told the in an interview.
Ivanka said on Twitter following the US strike she was proud of her father for making the difficult decision.
The US launched 59 tomahawk missiles from US Navy warships in the Mediterranean Sea to retaliate to the suspected chemical attack, a measure which drastically raised the stakes in the Syria’s six-year civil war.
Moscow slammed the US strike as "aggression against a sovereign state" and has defended the Syrian leader against US allegations that his forces used chemical weapons against his own people. Russia has blamed Syrian rebels.
The comments by Eric and Mr Spicer are likely to raise further questions about the level of influence Ivanka has in her informal advisory role.
Questions about possible conflicts of interest arose after it was announced on March 20 that Ivanka, 35, would become an informal adviser to her father, with an office in the West Wing.
She has been an increasingly influential adviser to the president and her husband, Jared Kushner, is a powerful Trump adviser.
-With Reuters
