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President Barack Obama made his case last night during a televised speech as to why the nation must respond to Syria's alleged use of chemical weapons against their own civilians, including hundreds of children.

Hopes for a diplomatic solution have risen, but the president says the threat of U.S. military force must be present.

"The images from this massacre are sickening. Men, women, children lying in rows, killed by poison gas....I've ordered our military to maintain their current posture to keep the pressure on Assad and to be in a position to respond if diplomacy fails," Obama said.

Long Islanders spoke to News 12 about how they think the president is handling the crisis in Syria.

"I think he's right because I don't want to see any more Americans die. Enough is enough," said Anthony Maltese, of West Babylon. "We do so much for other countries and I just think diplomacy is the right move right now."

"I think the president's being very diplomatic about it. I am, however, nervous about crossing into foreign territory again because things are just ending and cooling down. But I am concerned about the children's lives and the chemical attacks that are going on," said Giovhanny Archer, of Farmingdale State College.

Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with his Russian counterpart tomorrow in Geneva in an effort to work out a diplomatic solution and secure Syria's chemical weapons.

President Barack Obama made his case last night during a televised speech as to why the nation must respond to Syria's alleged use of chemical weapons against their own civilians, including hundreds

Long Island

LI | Weather

LIFORECAST

I'm meteorologist Rich Hoffman. Your hyperlocal weather forecast. We're in storm watch for heavy rain and strong winds coming in towards Sunday. But with the start of Hanukkah starting this evening at 425 that's our sunset. You're gonna see the clouds around now out towards the east and you've seen a little bit more sunshine. We do have the cloudy skies giving way to partly cloudy skies overnight and it's gonna feel cold, bundle up heading out for this evening. There still is that flurry or a passing rain or snow shower this afternoon? Best chance of that western areas of Long Island as we go throughout the rest of our day. Now, if you're going to be on Rosslyn, uh, through this evening temperature at five o'clock near 38 degrees. Yeah, bundle up. Here's the cold weather then into midnight around 34 waking up tomorrow morning on the partly cloudy skies. Your Friday starts off with temperatures around 30 degrees and then Saturday, Friday, we're looking good. It's Sunday that we are tracking out wet weather. As of right now, the rain develops during Sunday afternoon and becomes steadier and heavier as we go to Sunday evening, here's 545 on Sunday. There's that heavy rain overnight into Monday morning, still raining during your morning rush hour and then the weather improves for Monday afternoon. But as the cold front comes through, it's gonna get warm and then the gusty winds are gonna be developing winds on Sunday afternoon, 40 to potentially 50 MPH. And there's a chance that we see some higher gusts along the south shore and the east end. So you want to secure your Christmas decorations on Saturday for the strong gusty winds on Sunday. So let's go through the rest of the day. You're looking at 41 for your high 30 tonight and then four, your Friday mostly sunny to a mixture of sun and clouds. Temperatures, mid and upper forties. So Friday's ok. Saturday is looking good sun and clouds at 55 and then Sunday afternoon, Sunday night into Monday, the threat of heavy rain, strong winds, some power outages and then chilly next week. But generally dry weather conditions happy Hanukkah from M 12.

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Long Islanders weigh U.S. response to Syria crisis