US Military Forces Moving Into Position Near Syria
The last few hours have seen a dramatic change of tensions in the Middle East, with Russian forces defending Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad's regime against charges it was behind last week's chemical weapons attack.
Pentagon sources told CBN News Britain, France and the United States are discussing possible strikes to punish Assad for the chemical attack on Saturday, which killed 43 people.
Sources say the US military is in position to carry out any attack, with the Navy destroyer, the USS Donald Cook, getting underway in the eastern Mediterranean on Monday after wrapping up a port call in Cyprus.
The $1.8 billion guided missile destroyer is armed with 90 Tomahawk cruise missiles, along with Harpoon anti-ship missiles.
Also, the Navy says the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier and its strike group will depart Norfolk, Virginia, on Wednesday for a regularly scheduled deployment to Europe.
The strike group will include a German frigate FGS Hessen, a state of the art vessel specializing in air defense. The ship has a radar detection range of more than 200 nautical miles for air targets.
Another clue that a strike will happen: Aviation regulators in the US, UK, France, and Germany have issued a warning against commercial airlines from entering Syrian airspace.
Russia Sends Strong Warning
Meanwhile, a Russian ambassador has warned that Russia would shoot down incoming missiles and attack their launching platforms in the event of a strike on Syria.
After the latest US attack on Syria, the Syrian air defense system was heavily damaged, but Russia has the S-400 system.
This is a major threat to US, Britain, and France jets.
Russia's S-400 system is designed to destroy aircraft, cruise, and ballistic missiles, including medium-range missiles, and can also be used on ground objectives, according to Russian media outlets.
Sources say it can hit targets at a distance of 250 miles and at an altitude of up to 19 miles.
The Russian military has already begun jamming some smaller US military drones operating in the skies over Syria, which according to Pentagon officials has affected American military operations.
Right now, the drones were only being used for surveillance, but this could affect the larger Predator and Reaper drones that are often used in combat.
