Ololade Adeyanju/
US President Donald Trump today used Twitter to warn that a missile attack on Syria is imminent.
His warning came on the heels of Russia’s vow to shoot down any rockets fired at the Assad regime in retaliation for last week’s poison gas atrocity.
Trump tweeted: “Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and ‘smart!’ You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!”
Trump followed up with a second Twitter blast, claiming America’s rapport with Moscow has never been worse.
“Our relationship with Russia is worse now than it has ever been, and that includes the Cold War,” he tweeted. “There is no reason for this.”
He added: “Russia needs us to help with their economy, something that would be very easy to do, and we need all nations to work together. Stop the arms race?”
His threats came hours after Moscow’s ambassador to Lebanon, Alexander Zasypkin, said any U.S. missiles fired at Syria would be shot down by Russia and the launch sites targeted. In response to Trump’s tweet, Russia’s foreign ministry said “smart missiles should fly towards terrorists, not legal government”.
The last few hours have seen a dramatic ratcheting of tensions in the Middle East where Russian forces are propping up dictator Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria and American forces are backing some of his opponents.
Britain, France and the US are continuing to discuss possible strikes to punish Assad for the chemical attack on Saturday, in which 43 were killed and others left gasping for air and foaming at the mouth.
The US military appeared to be in position to carry out any attack order this morning with a Navy destroyer – armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles – underway in the eastern Mediterranean.
Amid rising tensions today, Moscow’s UN envoy, Vasily Nebenzia, had earlier pleaded with America not to strike and warned the US it will “bear responsibility” for any “illegal military adventure” it carries out.
Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, urged restraint this morning, saying countries should avoid taking action that could further destabilise the war-torn country.
This morning, the pan-European air traffic control agency Eurocontrol warned aircraft to be careful when flying close to Syria.
It said that air-to-ground and/or cruise missiles could be used within the next three days and there was a possibility of intermittent disruption of radio navigation equipment.
Some of the alleged victims of the chemical attack on the rebel-held Syrian town of Douma 