President Donald Trump pledged to strike Syrian president Bashar al-Assad with missiles and warned Russia not to retaliate, in a shock Wednesday tweet.
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 11, 2018
Trump’s tweet came in reaction to a declaration from Russia’s envoy to Beirut saying “if there is an American strike, then we … will shoot down the missiles and target the positions from where they were launched,” who added “In the past few days, we have seen an escalation towards a significant crisis.”
The strikes are in response to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad is suspected of using chlorine-based chemical weapons against civilians Saturday. The attack killed dozens of women and children. The president previously struck Assad for using Sarin gas against civilians in April 2017 and publicly is incensed at the regime’s repeated action.
“We can’t let atrocities like we all witnessed — and you can see that and it’s horrible — we can’t let that happen. In our world, we can’t let that happen, especially when we’re able to — because of the power of the United States, because of the power of our country — we’re able to stop it,” he declared recently.