Trump taunts Russia, says US military response coming in Syria

“Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria“, Mr Trump wrote.

The latest exchange came Wednesday morning, when the president responded to boasts by Russia’s ambassador to Lebanon that US missiles aimed at Syria would never get past Russian air defenses.

Fielding questions at the White House, Trump press secretary Sarah Sanders said it would be “outrageous” to say that Trump’s recent announcement that he intends to remove all US forces from Syria in the coming months had emboldened Assad.

The US, France and Britain have been in extensive consultations about launching a military strike as early as the end of this week, US officials have said.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis canceled plans to travel to California this week, indicating his focus on Syria.

For days, Trump has been warning Syria and its backers, Russian Federation and Iran, over the suspected gas attack.

Did Trump tip his hand?

That Trump would surprise staffers and allies with a morning tweet is not new; he regularly sets his own tone for the day on Twitter based on cable television and his own mood.

Russian Federation responded immediately, saying “smart missiles should fly towards terrorists, not legal governments”.

However, warning of an imminent strike could force United States military officials to modify their list of potential targets – which could range from airfields or chemical storage sites to locations in Assad’s backyard of Damascus depending on the intended message.

But they said Israel was taking seriously an Iranian threat to respond to a strike on Monday on an airbase on Syria, which Damascus, Tehran and Moscow have blamed on Israel.

It also showed the intensity of the proxy war being fought in Syria, where the Assad regime is being propped up by Russian Federation and Iran.

A Pentagon spokesman referred all inquiries on Trump’s tweet warning Russian Federation to “get ready” because missiles “will be coming” to the White House. He was expected at a White House meeting Wednesday for further consultations on Syria.

Prime minister Theresa May moved ever closer Wednesday to committing Britain to military action against Syria, saying “all the indications” are that President Bashar Al Assad’s forces were behind a chemical weapons attack in Douma. That warning was made in order to avoid casualties among Russian military advisers in Syria. Virtually all USA missiles now have advanced guidance systems. Israel does not typically comment on its operations in Syria, and it is unclear whether the missile attack was linked to the alleged use of chemical weapons.

“Don’t discount the possibility of Tomahawk-capable submarines in the region”, Kirby said. They can be reprogrammed mid-flight to hit different Global Positioning System coordinates.

“According to a former senior Israel Air Force officer, it is not hard to shoot down missiles”.

He said the missiles would be “new and ‘smart!'”

The military can also fasten “smart” guidance kits on existing “dumb” missiles to outfit them with the capability to hit specific targets.

“We’re talking about humanity and it can’t be allowed to happen”, he said.

In separate phone calls, the three allies agreed that the worldwide community should work closely together to make sure the regime, and its backers, were held to account.

Since the attack in Douma on Saturday, Trump showed a visceral reaction to graphic images of pallid children struggling for breath and frantically being doused with water by first responders. “They presented symptoms like respiratory failure, like discharge of mucous membrane and other symptoms that are consistent with the exposure to chemicals, like difficulty in breathing, eye irritation and other symptoms”, Jasarevic said.

May will host a Cabinet meeting on Thursday “to discuss the response to Syria“, a Downing Street spokesperson confirmed to CNN.

“As the President noted on April 8, the chemical weapons attack by the Syrian regime against innocent civilians in Duma, Syria on April 7 was horrifying, and demands an immediate response from the worldwide community”, he added.

Meanwhile, SNP defence spokesman Stewart McDonald wrote to the Prime Minister demanding a parliamentary vote on possible action, writing: “Any proposed change to the role of United Kingdom forces in Syria must be subject to full scrutiny and a vote in Parliament”.

The European Aviation Safety Agency alerted airlines on Tuesday of the possible launch of “air-to-ground and/or cruise missiles within the next 72 hours”, urging them to take precautionary measures.

This article has been updated.