US president warns Russia to ‘get ready’ as Syria missiles coming

Bloomberg

President Donald Trump said relations with Russia are worse than they have ever been and warned the country to “get ready” because a volley of US missiles would soon be sent into Syria in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack.
“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!,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!”
A strike that hits Russian assets in Syria — even if unintentionally — could result in a dangerous game of one-upmanship, potentially dragging the US further into a conflict the president wants to leave. Oil prices rose after Trump’s remarks, while US stock futures fell and the Russian ruble slumped to the lowest level in 16 months.
Russia has strengthened Syria’s air-defense capabilities, deploying S-400 missile batteries after US strikes a year ago hit a Syrian base.
“The most important thing about a US strike is the potential for Russian casualties as a result of any military activity there,” said Ayham Kamel, head of Middle East and North Africa research at Eurasia Group. “That is where there’s a risk of an escalatory cycle that would be much more meaningful than attacking Assad’s forces.”

Russian Response
Russia’s ambassador to Lebanon, Alexander Zasypkin, told Hezbollah’s Al Manar TV that any rockets that threaten Russian forces “will be downed as well as the sources of those rockets.” In March, Valery Gerasimov, chief of Russia’s General Staff, warned that “in the event a threat arises to the lives of our servicemen, the Armed Forces of Russia will take retaliatory measures against both missiles and the carriers that use them.”
Trump’s remarks weighed on investors already concerned about war. Oil prices surged to the highest level in two weeks in New York. Futures on the S&P 500 Index dropped 0.9 percent.
Turkey, which has troops in Syria, saw its currency weaken to a record, while the Borsa Istanbul 100 Index for stocks reversed gains to drop as much as 3.3 percent.
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told CNN that while there is “no question” Putin is culpable, she’s concerned there is no strategy. “It is one thing to take action about this really egregious issue of this chemical attack,” Albright said. “We need a strategy of some kind and I hope there is work going on that.” For the second time in less than a year, Trump is weighing a military response to a gas attack. This time, he’s under pressure to hit harder and take bigger risks. The attack Trump ordered last year was limited to a single Syrian base and left little lasting damage. A new retaliatory strike will almost certainly inflict greater damage and probably hit more targets important to President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Trump spoke twice in 24 hours with French PM
Bloomberg

After footage of a purported chemical attack on the Damascus suburb of Douma hit screens worldwide April 7, US President Donald Trump knew whom to call in Europe.
Trump spoke twice in 24 hours with French President Emmanuel Macron about what he called the atrocity in Syria. Three days passed before the US president spoke with another world leader about a response.
Macron’s status as head of the European Union’s foremost military power gives him a leg up over other EU chiefs who are often derided by Trump: France’s PM, foreign minister and government spokesman have all indicated that France would join the US in a punitive strike against the Syrian regime.
As he prepares to fly to Washington this month for a full state visit, the first European head to be given that honor by Trump, Macron has established himself as the president’s go-to leader
in Europe.