re: Why did Trump warn Syria & Russia before attacking?

The tomahawks were deployed approximately 4 hours prior to the target time. Russia/Syria were given one hour before the missiles hit to clear the area. Enough time to move out people, but not chem wmds. The missiles were already en route.

This was a beautiful piece of military strategy that effectively destroyed the target with minimal collateral loss.

Your OP is a fail.

The difference between stating you are moving 200 SF troops into a specific area in Iraq in the next few weeks to perform a specific task isn't in the same neighborhood as warning off the Russians to get there Ivan's off an airfield.

But I guess you have a gotcha moment.