ROCKETS RED GLARE
Putin fumes over attack on Syria
U.S. warns: There’s more if needed
Assad resumes bombing runs
Russians, Assad: It’s not over
THE PUTIN-TRUMP bromance went up in smoke — wafting skyward from a bombed Syrian air base.
A nasty war of words erupted Friday between the Trump administration and its Russian counterparts after the White House-ordered missile strike over Syrian leader Bashar Assad’s latest use of chemical weapons.
The saber-rattling included the White House threatening to flex more military might, the Russians ordering a battleship into the Mediterranean Sea — and Syria sending its planes on more bombing runs.
New economic sanctions are also on the way against Syria, said Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.
The U.S. was also investigating whether Russia collaborated with Syria in the Tuesday gas attack that killed 87 civilians, including scores of women and children, according to senior U.S. military officials.
A drone belonging to one of the two nations was spied above the targeted Syrian town after the chemical attack occurred, said the officials.
“I don’t have any information that it would be appropriate to share with you at this point,” said Secretary of State Tillerson when asked about possible Russian involvement.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said the U.S. Tomahawk missiles came dangerously close to provoking a response from his government.
The area attacked was under the control of opposition forces aligned against the Assad regime. The planes carrying the gas left from the Shayrat Air Base — the target of the U.S. bombing.
As many world leaders praised President Trump for ordering the bombing, both Russian and Syrian officials ripped the United States for “flagrant violations” of international law.
“We call upon the United States to immediately cease its aggression and join those efforts to seek a political solution in Syria,” said Vladimir Safronkov, the Russian deputy ambassador to the UN.
A Putin spokesman charged the U.S. attack was a violation of international law conducted “under a false pretense.”
And Assad vowed the U.S. attack will embolden, not deter, his aggressive handling of the nation’s ongoing civil war.
“This aggression has increased Syria’s resolve to hit those terrorist agents, to continue to crush them, and to raise the pace of action to that end wherever they are,” read the statement.
The support of Putin (photo) remains a linchpin in Assad’s continued reign, with the Russians long resisting U.S. efforts to unseat the Syrian president.
Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, ripped both Russia and Iran as enablers of Assad’s bloodlust.
“Every time Assad has crossed the line of decency, Russia has stood beside him,” Haley charged. As tensions escalated, Russia dispatched the Admiral Grigorovich frigate into the Mediterranean Sea — where the American destroyers USS Porter and USS Ross unleashed Thursday’s 59-missile barrage. Tillerson said 20% of the 7th Wing of Syria’s Air Force was destroyed in the attack, although the base’s runway was still usable after the strike. In fact, Syrian planes taking off from Shayrat attacked rebel-controlled areas in the
nearby countryside, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
President Trump offered no public comments on his decision, ignoring shouted questions from reporters Friday.
But the White House defended its missile strike as the proper payback against the Syrian strongman.
“I think that this action was very decisive, justified and proportional to the actions that (President Trump) felt needed taken,” said White House spokesman Sean Spicer.
“I think it sends a very strong signal not just to Syria, but throughout the world.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the message delivered by the 59 Tomahawk missiles was impossible for Assad — or anyone else — to miss.
“I don’t know why anyone’s confused,” said McConnell. “I thought it was very clear what this strike was about: You don’t use chemical weapons without consequences.”
At least seven Syrians were killed on the ground after Trump, in the first military action of his administration, ordered the attacks in response to Tuesday’s horrific attack.
Trump flatly accused Assad of using banned chemical weapons in the gruesome incident that left residents foaming at the mouths and convulsing in the streets.
Spicer said the decision to attack Syria evolved over three days. Trump ordered the missile assault Thursday afternoon around 4 p.m. after a Florida meeting with Tillerson and other administration officials.
He tweeted out a picture of Trump getting briefed on the missile attack in a conference room at his Mara-a-Lago resort in Florida, where he was surrounded by top aides including Tillerson, Mnuchin, Stephen Bannon, Jared Kushner and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.
Spicer, asked what might happen next in the escalating hard feelings, declined to give any specifics. Trump “is not going to telegraph his next move,” he said.