BEIRUT, April 11 (Reuters): Pro-government forces in Syria are emptying main airports and military air bases over possible U.S. strikes, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said on Wednesday.
U.S. President Donald Trump said in a Tweet on Wednesday that American missiles "will be coming" to Syria following a suspected chemical weapons attack on Sunday. The Syrian army could not be immediately reached for comment.
Reuters adds: US President Donald Trump warned Russia on Wednesday of imminent military action in Syria.
Trump was responding to a Russian warning on Tuesday that any US missiles fired at Syria over the assault on a rebel enclave would be shot down and the launch sites targeted.
"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 in a post on Twitter.
In response, Russia's Foreign Ministry said "smart missiles should fly towards terrorists, not legal government". Damascus and Moscow refer to rebels fighting Assad as terrorists.
The Syrian government and Russia say the reports of a poison gas assault on the Syrian town of Douma are bogus.
Moscow's threat to shoot down US missiles came from the Russian ambassador to Lebanon, Alexander Zasypkin, who said he was referring to a statement by President Vladimir Putin and the Russian armed forces chief of staff.
Zasypkin also said that any hostilities with Washington should be avoided and Moscow was ready for negotiations.
But his remarks could raise fears of direct conflict for the first time between major powers backing opposing sides in Syria's protracted civil war.
The World Health Organisation said on Wednesday that 43 people had died in Saturday's attack on the town of Douma from "symptoms consistent with exposure to highly toxic chemicals", and more than 500 in all had been treated.
Moscow and Washington stymied attempts by each other at the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday to set up international investigations into chemical weapons attacks in Syria.
Saudi Arabia could take part in military action in Syria after a suspected chemical attack that killed at least 60 people in the eastern Ghouta region over the weekend, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said on Tuesday.
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