The Obama administration is building the public case for a military strike on Syria by releasing documents on last week's alleged chemical weapons attack, FoxNews.com reported on Tuesday. On Monday, Secretary of State John Kerry declared the evidence of a chemical weapons attack in Syria as "undeniable."
The documents are expected to be released Tuesday with one senior Defense official saying that a U.S. strike is "not a matter of if, but when."
U.S. military sources also said that the planned military operation would include cruise missiles and possible long-range stealth bombers but will not target Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles.
NBC News reported that missile strikes could be launched as early as Thursday, and U.S. Defense officials underscored that military assets are in position and could strike at any moment once President Obama gives the order.
The U.S. President and his team are working in concert with allies France and England who each believe the Syrian government had been behind chemical attacks, which killed 350 people.
"Our forces are making contingency plans," a spokesman for British Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters. London and its allies would make a "proportionate response" to the "utterly abhorrent" attack, the spokesman added.
U.S. officials also told Fox News that a strike is not likely while U.N. inspectors are still on the ground in Damascus.
Secretary Kerry's statement to reporters on Tuesday underscored that "there must be accountability" to a Syrian government that used chemical weapons to kill its own people, even though there remains suspicions as to who unleashed the deadly weapons by other countries.
"Our sense of basic humanity is offended not only by this cowardly crime but also by the cynical attempt to cover it up," Kerry said.
Russia and China, members of the U.N. Security Council, have been the most vocal to express opposition to a pending military strike: "It is imperative that the United States and like-minded countries refrain from hasty armed invention and let the U.N. play its due part in determining how to act," the state-run Xinhua news agency said Tuesday.
