Washington (CNN) After President Donald Trump warned Russia in a tweet Wednesday that it should "get ready" for missile strikes against Syria, key lawmakers on Capitol Hill questioned whether threats of war should be made via social media while some Republican defense hawks urged Trump to act soon.

The President signaled in a morning tweet that the US would fire missiles into Syria: "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!"

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! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 11, 2018

GOP Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, who chairs the influential Foreign Relations Committee, questioned the value of Trump's tweet and warned the inflammatory rhetoric could escalate the crisis into a "geopolitical outbreak."

Corker has called for "surgical strikes" against Syria to punish President Bashar al-Assad's government for allegedly carrying out a chemical attack against Syrian civilians last week.

"The only thing I worry about is that it's not going to happen," he said about a possible military response. "Because so many things get announced and then they never happened. I'm actually more concerned on the other side and I think every day that goes by, we actually get ourselves more fully in position where it could create a geopolitical outbreak whereas if we had just done it, before the Russians and the Iranians, and the Syrians prepped for it, we'd been in much better shape."

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