President Trump Donald John TrumpOmar fires back at Trump over rally remarks: 'This is my country' Pelosi: Trump hurrying to fill SCOTUS seat so he can repeal ObamaCare Trump mocks Biden appearance, mask use ahead of first debate MORE's tweet threatening to strike Syria came as a surprise to top White House aides who were still crafting the administration's response to the country's apparent chemical attack on civilians, according to The Washington Post.

Trump tweeted early Wednesday morning that "nice and new and 'smart'" missiles would soon be launched at Syria, where the government is believed to be behind a chemical attack on Saturday that left 70 dead and more than 500 others injured.

Advisers were reportedly surprised by the tweet, with one senior White House official telling the Post they found the tweet "alarming" and "distracting."

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“It’s just like everybody wakes up every morning and does whatever is right in front of them,” the official told The Post on the condition of anonymity.

Trump has laid blame for the chemical weapons attack on Syrian civilians earlier this week squarely at the feet of Syrian President Bashar Assad and his ally Russian President Vladimir Putin and said he would decide on a response soon.

Relations between Russia and the West have been steadily deteriorating over recent weeks due to Moscow's support for the Syrian government as well as the poisoning of an ex-Russian spy on British soil, which the West has blamed on Russia.

"Final decisions haven't been made yet," said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. "The president has a number of options at his disposal and all of those options remain on the table."

Syria's civil war has been raging for seven years, as Assad's forces, which are backed by the Russian military, have sought to quell rebel forces.