Trump says missiles ‘will be coming’ to Syria, taunts Russia for vow to shoot them down

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump warned Wednesday that missiles "will be coming" toward Syria in response to a suspected chemical attack, and he taunted Russia for vowing to shoot down any incoming strikes.

"Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and 'smart!'" the president wrote on Twitter, referring to missile strikes that have appeared likely since the weekend deaths of more than 40 Syrian civilians, including children.

Trump's taunt was the first explicit U.S. statement that a military response is in the offing, and it marked a turnabout for a president who ridiculed his predecessor, Barack Obama, for allegedly telegraphing military strategy.

Trump also condemned Russia's backing of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"You shouldn't be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!" Trump wrote, in one of his most direct criticisms of Moscow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin did not directly respond to Trump's tweets when he appeared at the Kremlin several hours later, at a ceremony welcoming new foreign ambassadors to Moscow. But he told the assembled diplomats that "the state of things in the world cannot but provoke concern."

"The situation in the world is increasingly chaotic," Putin said. "Nevertheless, we hope that common sense will prevail in the end and that international relations will become more constructive – that the whole global system will become more stable and predictable."

Earlier this week, Trump said his administration was working on a response to the suspected chemical attack on Saturday, including military options.

The United States has been building a circumstantial case, based largely on videos and photographs, that a chemical attack by Syrian forces took place in the rebel-held town of Douma in the Eastern Ghouta region near Damascus.

Syria and Russia, a main backer of Assad, have insisted that no chemical attack occurred and that only the opposition groups they call "terrorists" possess chemical weapons.

Reacting to Trump's tweet, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that a missile strike could undermine the work of international inspectors who will examine the site of the suspected chemical attack.

"Smart missiles should be fired at terrorists and not at the legitimate government which has been fighting terrorists," Zakharova wrote on Facebook. "Or is the trick to destroy all the traces with a smart missile strike and then there will be no evidence for international inspectors to look for?"

Trump appeared to be referring to a comment from Russia's ambassador to Lebanon, who was quoted by a Lebanese news outlet Tuesday as saying that Russia would confront a U.S. strike on Syria by shooting down missiles and striking their launchpads or points of origin.

The missiles most likely to be used in a U.S. attack would probably be launched from U.S. warships, opening the possibility that the Russian diplomat was threatening open warfare.

Two Navy destroyers were used to launch more than 50 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian air base in April 2017 in response to a nerve-agent attack that Trump blamed on Assad. The destroyers were underway in the Mediterranean Sea when the missiles were launched from hundreds of miles away. That position was beyond the range of Syrian air defenses, but within range of potential Russian defenses.

The 2017 U.S. assault is probably the best guide for what Trump may do now, but he could choose other launch options. The strike a year ago made good on Trump's vow not to let the use of chemical weapons go unpunished, but it failed to deter Assad from using them again.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, asked about the ambassador's comment in his regular phone briefing with reporters on Wednesday, did not repeat the warning.

He described the situation in Syria as "rather tense" but declined to specify how Moscow would respond to a U.S. airstrike against its ally Assad. Gen. Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, has said the military would hit back if U.S. airstrikes endangered Russian servicemen in Syria.

"Regarding the question of what will happen in the event of this or that strike, one still wants to hope that all sides will avoid steps that (a) are not provoked by anything in reality and (b) could significantly destabilize the already fragile situation in the region," Peskov said Wednesday.

A top Russian military official said Russian military police would enter Douma on Friday. He continued to dispute U.S. claims that a chemical attack took place in the town.

The official, Lt. Gen. Viktor Poznikhir, deputy chief of operations of the Russian General Staff , said the United States should instead pay attention to the humanitarian situation in the city of Raqqa, which Kurdish-led forces and their American allies captured from the Islamic State last year.

"Rather than declare its readiness to strike Syria with missiles, the United States should work on rebuilding the destroyed city and offer comprehensive help to the population," Poznikhir said.

In a later tweet Wednesday morning, Trump asserted that "our relationship with Russia is worse now than it has ever been, and that includes the Cold War."

"There is no reason for this," Trump wrote. "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?"

He later wrote that "much of the bad blood" with Russia was the result of an ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. He called the investigation "Fake & Corrupt."

Trump charged that the investigation is "headed up by all Democrat loyalists." He cited special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, whom he called the "most conflicted of all," and Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who is overseeing the probe.

Both Mueller and Rosenstein are Republicans.

With his series of tweets, Trump did precisely what he vowed he would never to do: Telegraph his moves.

During his 2016 campaign, Trump regularly attacked Obama for previewing U.S. military strategy, which he argued gave the enemy an advantage by allowing it to fortify itself for the coming attack.

"I have often said that General MacArthur and General Patton would be in a state of shock if they were alive today to see the way President Obama and Hillary Clinton try to recklessly announce their every move before it happens – like they did in Iraq – so that the enemy can prepare and adapt," Trump said in an August 2016 speech on terrorism.

As president, Trump has boasted that he does not disclose his plans ahead of time. In April 2017, as he contemplated a strike in Syria, Trump said, "One of the things I think you've noticed about me is: Militarily, I don't like to say where I'm going and what I'm doing."

In Geneva, the World Health Organization said Wednesday that it was "deeply alarmed" by the reports that chemical weapons were used in Syria. At least 43 people were killed Saturday night from suspected exposure, while some 500 patients poured into medical facilities that had been also been bombed, the organization said.

"We should all be outraged at these horrific reports and images from Douma," said Peter Salama, the WHO deputy director general of emergency preparedness and response.

On Tuesday, a network of local flight monitors in Syria said they had tracked several helicopters heading southwest from a government air base Saturday. The same models of aircraft were later detected circling over Douma at 7:26 p.m. to 7:38 p.m. Reports of a suspected gas attack began circulating minutes later.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, a global watchdog, said Tuesday that its inspectors were preparing to deploy to Syria and that Assad's government has been approached for permission to enter Douma.

But the scope of its mandate remained unclear. The organization is not responsible for naming the perpetrators of any chemical attack, and previous inspectors have said their missions were hampered by government restrictions.

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Troianovski reported from Moscow. Louisa Loveluck in Istanbul and Anne Gearan in Washington contributed to this report.