HE CHATTED AMIABLY WITH XI AND HIS WIFE PENG LIYUAN, AND GAVE NOTHING AWAY …

They ranged from using cruise missiles to target the Shayrat airfield where the sarin attack was launched, to an assault on numerous airfields, completely grounding Assad’s air force, taking out Syrian air defences, or a wider blitz on Assad’s entire military and chemical capabilities.

According to officials, Trump woke up on Thursday morning having decided he would launch missiles. Among the first to know were Mattis, national security adviser H.R. McMaster and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Those three men joined Trump on Air Force One as he headed for Mar-a-Lago on Thursday afternoon and were among the advisers huddling with the president in his cabin.

At one point on the flight Trump emerged to speak to journalists on the plane and denied a decision had been made.

But he stood next to a television screen showing Darth Vader in a Star Wars film, which some took to be an omen. Later, the turbulence on the flight became so bad press secretary Sean Spicer was knocked off his feet.

Arriving at Mar-a-Lago shortly before 3 p.m., Trump and his team engaged in last minute preparations, some of it in a tent containing secure equipment for communicating with Washington.

Aides worked feverishly on Trump’s after-dinner speech, in which he was to announce the strike.

He had decided to launch missiles against Shayrat, which was at the conservative end of the options offered by Mattis.

Trump was believed to have made his final decision around 4 p.m.

While Trump was in the middle of dinner, the Russian military was informed of the impending U.S. action through a “deconfliction” channel designed to avoid the two major powers taking out each other’s forces.

It was a warning for Russia to remove any of its planes from the area.

After finishing dinner and saying farewell to Xi, Trump moved to an improvised situation room within the Spanish-style walls of Mar-a-Lago for an update on the strike.

He was photographed watching a screen with a dozen of his closest advisers at 9.15 p.m.

Moments later he emerged and delivered his public statement on the strike.

Trump said there was no doubt Assad was responsible for the chemical attack, which he said employed banned gases and killed dozens.

“Assad choked out the lives of helpless men, women and children,” Trumped declared, ending, “God Bless America and the entire world.”