I don’t know about everyone else, but I’d prefer that announcements about the military be made by SECDEF. If something involves both the State Department and the Department of Defense, both SECDEF and the SOS should be present to make the initial announcement. The State Department has risen to way too much dominance in the hierarchy of government administration, in my opinion, and mistakes caused by its arrogance and bureaucracy have been the cause of way too many problems around the world and at home.
Agree. Maybe Tillerson is obsessed with plans for a pipeline through Syria, and he wants to scare Assad into cooperating. AFAIK Trump has not publicly weighed in on this.