Deadly S-400 anti-aircraft missile ‘ring of steel’ protects Assad as Moscow accuses Trump of trying to cover up ‘faked’ gas attack
US President Donald Trump has warned Russia to ‘get ready’ for strikes on Syria in an extraordinary tweet
Trump told Moscow ‘You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it’
US has maintained the threat of missile strikes in the wake of Saturday’s horrific chemical attack in Douma
Russia ambassador to Lebanon says US missiles fired at Syria would be shot down and launch sites targeted
The air traffic control agency Eurocontrol has warned of the use of missiles in the area ‘in the next 72 hours’
World Health Organisation said today that 500 people went to hospitals showing ‘symptoms consistent with exposure to toxic chemicals’ after the poison gas attack on the rebel-held Syrian town of Douma on Saturday
By JULIAN ROBINSON
DAILYMAIL.COM
11 April 2018
Russia has vowed to shoot down any US missiles aimed at Syria using its lethal anti-aircraft system amid mounting tensions between Moscow and Washington.
Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s regime is protected by fearsome S-400 defence missiles in a ‘ring of steel’ around the country provided by the Kremlin.
The S-400 has been described as one of the most formidable air defence systems in the world today and is capable of shooting down fighter jets and missiles.
Russia is also hoping to sell the system to Iran and Turkey, and a successful demonstration against American hardware would only help sell the $400m per unit system.
The S-400 was first deployed to Syria in 2015, and with its 248 mile range it is capable of providing an air cover umbrella across the majority of Syria.
Sources say it is likely any attack by the US, Britain and France on Syria would be carried out from a safe enough distance to avoid planes being shot down.
This morning, Moscow’s ambassador to Lebanon, Alexander Zasypkin, said any US rockets fired at Syria would be shot down and the launch sites targeted.
US President Donald Trump responded with an incendiary tweet warning that a strike on Syria was imminent and telling Moscow it ‘shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!’
He was referring to a horrifying poison gas attack blamed on Assad’s forces that left 43 dead and hundreds of others injured in rebel-held Douma over the weekend.
Russia denies Assad carried out the attack and the Kremlin’s Foreign Ministry today suggested the US plan to strike Syria could be a pretext to destroy evidence of an alleged chemical weapons attack, which Russia has said was a staged ‘provocation’ to justify Western intervention.
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