Trump warns Russia to "get ready" for a missile attack in Syria
US President Donald Trump has responded to the Kremlin's warnings to shoot down the missiles it launches in Syria after the alleged chemical attack on Saturday. "Get ready Russia," said Tump through his Twitter account and in reference to the missiles said they will fall "good, new and smart." The US president said that Moscow should not ally with the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, whom he described as a "killer animal" that "kills its own people."
"Russia promises to knock down any missiles we launch into Syria, get ready Russia, because they will be good, new and intelligent, they should not ally themselves with a murderous animal that kills its own people and enjoys it!" he wrote. Russia, in as much, affirmed that Washington looks for with an attack "to erase traces" of which it considers was "a provocation", in reference to the incident in Douma. In another of his tweets, Trump said: "Our relationship with Russia is at its worst and that includes the Cold War, there is no reason for that, Russia needs us to help her with her economy, something that would be very easy to do and We need all nations to work together ... Stop the arms race?"
In a context of growing tension between Washington and Moscow, the Russian ambassador to Lebanon, Alexander Zasypkin, said his country will shoot down missiles that the US launch in response to the alleged chemical attack in Syria. The diplomat reiterated the expressions made by political and military figures of his country, including the Chief of Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Valeri Guerásimov. Zasypkin's statements come as he waits for the "blunt response" announced by Trump.
The representative of Russia (allied country of Syria) before the UN, Vasily Nebeznia, urged the US not to act in the area and warned that "they will be responsible" for any "illegal military adventure" that takes place. The warning came during a session of the Security Council where no agreement was reached to investigate what happened in the Syrian city of Douma, in Guta Oriental. In this context, the European air traffic agency, Eurocontrol, alerted companies to take precautions in the eastern Mediterranean before the possibility of attacks in Syria in the next 72 hours. The American battleship Donald Cook is located in Mediterranean waters.
USA and Russia blocked each other's proposals, making use of the veto power they both hold as permanent members of the Security Council. The US draft aimed to give investigators the faculty of attributing blame for the alleged attack, while the Russian text proposed to leave that to the Security Council itself. A team from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is about to leave for Syria to determine whether or not such material was used in Douma.
The OPCW, however, will not seek to identify those responsible for the event. The World Health Organization (WHO), for its part, demanded "unobstructed access" to Douma to verify reports from its partners that 500 people have been affected by a chemical attack there. At the meeting of the Security Council, the representatives of Moscow and Washington again crossed accusations. Nebezia said that the US tried to "plant a resolution" as a "pretext to justify military actions." "We could find ourselves on the threshold of very sad and serious events," he said. The American representative Nikki Haley, on the other hand, described the vote as a "parody". "Russia has destroyed the credibility of the Security Council," she said. "Whenever we propose something significant for Syria, Russia vetoes it," she said.
The source of this latest controversy between the two powers is an alleged chemical attack occurred last Saturday in Douma. Opposition activists from Syria, doctors and rescue workers reported that a bombardment with projectiles loaded with toxic substances took place. Estimates of the total number of victims range from 40 to 60 people. The WHO, meanwhile, estimated that more than 70 people died as a result of the attack. The Syrian government of Bashar Al Assad denies what happened.