President Donald Trump’s tweet where he threatened to launch missiles at Syria came as a surprise to top White House aides who were still trying to craft the administration’s response to the chemical attack on civilians.
According to The Washington Post, President Trump wrote the tweet early Wednesday morning where he stated that “nice and new and smart” missiles would be raining over Syria.
It is believed that the government of Syria is behind the chemical attack on Saturday that left 70 dead and more than 500 others injured.
White House advisers were reportedly surprised by the President’s tweet, with one senior White House official telling the Post that they found the tweet both “alarming” and “distracting.”
“It’s just like everybody wakes up every morning and does whatever is right in front of them,” the official told The Post on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, Trump immediately blamed Syrian leader Assad and his ally Putin for the chemical weapons attack on Syrian civilians earlier this week, saying that he would decide on a response soon.
Russia foreign ministry responded to Trump’s threats saying that any missiles fired at Syria will be intercepted and the launching sites will be targeted.
In recent weeks relations between Russia and the West have been steadily deteriorating as a result of Moscow’s backing of the Syrian government as well as the poisoning of an ex-Russian spy on British soil, which the West also believes Russia is responsible for.
“Final decisions haven’t been made yet,” said White House press secretary Sarah Sanders. “The President has a number of options at his disposal and all of those options remain on the table.”
Syria’s civil war has been raging for seven years, as the Assad regime, which is backed by the Russian military, has been trying to destroy the remaining rebel forces.
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