Russian politician calls Trump 'Adolf Hitler No. 2 of our time'

Show Caption Hide Caption Trump orders missile strikes on Syrian regime President Trump says the strikes are intended to deter the use of chemical weapons, which the Syrian government is accused of using on civilians in Douma, a suburb of Damascus.

The U.S. airstrike on Syria Friday night is creating a tense tug-of-war in the already strained relations with Russia, which has sent its warships into the Mediterranean to keep a close eye on their American naval adversaries.

Russian ambassador Anatoly Antonov warned late Friday that the attack "will not be left without consequences."

"The worst apprehensions have come true," Antonov said in a tweet reported by ABC News. "Our warnings have been left unheard . . . We are being threatened. The U.S. — the possessor of the biggest arsenal of chemical weapons — has no moral right to blame other countries."

Another highly placed Russian politician likened President Trump to Adolf Hitler and said the air assault is regarded as a move against Russia.

Alexander Sherin, deputy head of the State Duma’s defense committee, said Trump “can be called Adolf Hitler No. 2 of our time – because, you see, he even chose the time that Hitler attacked the Soviet Union.” The Nazi forces’ opening attack against the USSR in 1941 was launched around 4 a.m., the same time in Russia that Friday's attack occurred.

The Qatari news site Al Arabiya reported a huge blast heard near Damacus Friday night, citing several media outlets.

U.S. and Russian navies are closely watching each other.

Warships and submarines of the Russian naval taskforce were keeping track at a close distance of U.S. and NATO assault ships and submarines in the area, Russian government news site Tass said, citing a military and diplomatic source.

The Russian navy ships were ordered to monitor the underwater, surface and air situation in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea, including approaches and maneuvering of foreign ships in the area near Syria’s port city of Tartus, where Russia has its only foreign base outside of Europe.

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The close proximity of U.S. and Russian ships prompted Andrey Kortunov, director of the Russian International Affairs Council, to make a loose comparison to the Cuban Missile Crisis, although he stopped short of saying the situation is that dire.

"I believe that, of course, we’re not now in the position that we were at the peak of the Cuban Missile Crisis. We are still far from that," Kortunov told ABC News. “But within that, I believe that now the situation is more dangerous than it has been since any moment the Trump administration came to power.”

Russian military and diplomatic officials warned before President Trump ordered a military strike on Syria Friday that they would counter any attack on Syrian forces in retaliation for an alleged chemical attack on April 7.

Russia’s ambassador to Lebanon on Tuesday told Lebanon's Al Manar TV that any U.S. missiles fired at Syria would be shot down and the launch sites targeted, Reuters reported. Russian Ambassador to Beirut Alexander Zasypkin cited orders by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"If there is a U.S. missile attack, we — in line with both Putin and Russia's chief of staff's remarks — will shoot down U.S. rockets and even the sources that launched the missiles," Zasypkin told al Manar.

Some analysts have predicted that the Kremlin will not wish to engage in a military clash with the U.S., but that the ongoing tension with Syria could push the two sides toward a military confrontation.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov upped the diplomatic ante earlier in the day Friday when he called the allegations of a Syrian chemical attack a "fabrication" by British intelligence.

Lavrov said Russia had "irrefutable information that it was another fabrication, and intelligence agencies of a state that is now striving to spearhead a Russophobic campaign were involved in that fabrication."

"If there is a strike by the Americans, then ... the missiles will be downed and even the sources from which the missiles were fired," Zasypkin told Hezbollah's al-Manar TV Tuesday evening in Arabic, according to Reuters.

Contributing: Associated Press