Donald Trump's Syria tweets infuriate Pentagon

Even before he was president, Donald Trump vowed he wouldn't "do an Obama" and telegraph to the enemy an upcoming military attack.

Here he is speaking last year: "Militarily I don't like to say where I'm going and what I'm doing."

And earlier this year: "We no longer tell our enemies our plans."

Although at around 5am today Trump did just that.

After Russia threatened to destroy incoming missiles he tweeted: "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! You shouldn't be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!"

Once again he has infuriated military planners in the Pentagon who are working on secret plans with allies including Britain and France.

They feel he is treating military action, where people could die, flippantly.

They are particularly unimpressed with him using social media to send threatening messages, basically skiting he has a bigger hammer than Russia.

His supporters will be inclined to say, "that is just Trump bluster. Trump being Trump."

These days they point to the apparent success of Trump's aggressive tweets threatening North Korea, labelling Kim Jong-un as "little rocket man" and threatening him with "fire and fury".

Kim is now forging closer ties with South Korea and has even agreed to a summit meeting in May with Trump.

Before any attack, military planners want to know what chemical agent the Syrian forces used last weekend.

The next key decision is what targets to hit.

Last year the missiles partly destroyed a Syrian military airstrip, although it was back in service within weeks.

And already, apparently heeding Trump's warning, the Syrians are repositioning their warplanes and moving their troops into a defensive posture.

Passenger airlines are also being warned to stay clear of Syrian air space because "nice and new and smart" missiles are apparently on their way.