Cairo: The US military is ready to strike Syria, the top defence official says as the momentum grows in France and Britain for punitive action and the Syrian opposition says it had been informed of an imminent military attack.
“We are prepared. We are ready to go” if given such an order from President Barack Obama, US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel told the BBC on Tuesday.
“We have moved assets in place to be able to fulfil … whatever option the president wishes to take,” he said.
The US and its allies blame Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government for chemical weapons attacks on Wednesday in Eastern Ghouta and Maadamiyet al-Sham, outside Damascus, which the opposition claimed killed at least 1300 people.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem warned his country would defend itself in a way that would “surprise” its enemies.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has made a flurry of calls to allies over the last five days, including the foreign ministers of Britain, France, Canada, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.
Mr Kerry has also been in contact with senior NATO, EU and Arab League officials, and he has spoken to his counterparts in Syria and Russia.
A senior State Department official said the talks were part of “ongoing consultations about the appropriate response to the chemical weapons attack in Syria”.
