RUSSIA THREAT: Putin belittles Britain’s 'young men' on UK submarines as war looms

Last night reports emerged Theresa May had ordered British submarines within range of Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian forces as the Prime Minister moves ever-closer to military intervention, following the sick chemical attack in Douma in Syria last week.

But Assad's ally Russia has lashed out at the UK, belittiling Royal Navy sailors as Moscow declared Mrs May may regret it.

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: “These are young men who do not even know what fate they are preparing for Syria or what fate Theresa May prepares for them.

“She may apologise for it later. But they have to live with it.”

Russia has deployed military police in Douma after the town was taken over by Assad’s government forces.

Putin's defence ministry told the state run RIA news agency: "They are the guarantors of law and order in the town.”

The foreign ministry's remarks come despite no official confirmation from the Prime Minister that UK will pursue military action in Syria.

The Royal Navy submarines are believed to be moving towards the eastern Mediterranean, the Telegraph newspaper has reported. 

And the BBC said yesterday that Mrs May was set on launching a military response.

The Prime Minister will hold a Cabinet meeting this afternoon where it understood potential military intervention will be discussed.

A Government source said: “We are committed to deter and prevent the use of chemical weapons.

“We now have to establish the best way of getting there, and those conversations are carrying on, officials are speaking to their counterparts in France and America right now.

“In terms of precisely what happens next, that is still to be confirmed.”

Speaking on a visit to Birmingham yesterday, Mrs May said: “The continued use of chemical weapons cannot go unchallenged.’

Asked whether she was concerned by Mr Trump’s tweet, she replied: “We are working with our allies, we have been working to get an understanding of what happened on the ground.

“We are rapidly reaching that understanding. All the indications are that the Syrian regime was responsible.

“We will be working with our closest allies on how we can ensure that those who are responsible are held to account and how we can prevent and deter the humanitarian catastrophe that comes from the use of chemical weapons in the future.”

Donald Trump also promised “missiles are coming” in a series of tweets and warned Syria’s Russian allies they would be powerless to shoot them down.

And British General Sir Robert Barrons warned that Russia’s retaliatory intervention to US strikes in Syria could spiral the world into war after Moscow’s amabaddaror Alexander Zasypkin said Russia is ready to "down" planes targeting Bashar al-Assad's forces.

Vladimir Putin's government said a "deconfliction" telephone line has been set up between Moscow and the US to communicate.

The Kremlin said it is very important to avoid steps that could threaten to raise tensions in war-ravaged Syria.

Earlier General Barrons told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Well, I hope the ambassador's chosen his words very carefully.

"What he's actually saying is, if the US and allies decide to strike against Syrian chemical weapons and delivery aircraft, not only are they going to try and shoot down the missiles in flight, which they are capable of doing but won't be with total success, but by saying the words 'launch platforms', he's saying they are going to try and sink ships, sink submarines and shoot aircraft out of the sky - that's war."

Mrs May has held telephone conversations with US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron and they agreed the international community "needed to respond” to "uphold the worldwide prohibition on the use of chemical weapons”.

A Downing Street spokeswoman on Tuesday said: "The Prime Minister held separate telephone conversations earlier today with the Mr Trump and Mr Macron.

"They agreed that reports of a chemical weapons attack in Syria were utterly reprehensible and if confirmed, represented further evidence of the Assad regime's appalling cruelty against its own people and total disregard for its legal obligations not to use these weapons.

"They agreed that the international community needed to respond to uphold the worldwide prohibition on the use of chemical weapons.

"They agreed they would continue working closely together and with international partners to ensure that those responsible were held to account."