Wednesday’s gunfire broke out during the evacuation of the latest batch of civilians and rebels after pro-government supporters attempted to raise government flags over buildings in Douma and chanted in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad before the evacuation of rebel fighters was completed. There was no official government announcement that Douma had been recaptured and no indication that Syrian forces had yet entered the town, where Russian military police were deployed to preserve the peace after an evacuation fraught with difficulties. On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump said that American missiles "will be coming" to Syria as he and other Western countries weigh military action over the suspected chemical attack in Douma. If confirmed, the town's seizure would mark the last stage of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad's takeover of the rebel-held enclave of eastern Ghouta,

President Trump warned Russia in a tweet Wednesday to "get ready" for U.S. missile strikes in Syria in retaliation for the alleged chemical attack that killed at least 40 people, many of them children.
Syrian government fighters remove the last rebels from Douma, completing the Syrian government's recapture of former rebel stronghold Eastern Ghouta.