‘Syria, Iran, Hezbollah set up situation room’.

‘Syria, Iran, Hezbollah set up situation room’.(TOI).

Iran, Syria and Hezbollah have set up a joint situation room in preparation for a potential US-led strike in Syria, with Hezbollah mobilizing “tens of thousands” of fighters for the occasion.

The military operations coordination between the three is meant to plan for the monitoring of targets and organizing of retaliation, the Lebanese Daily Star reported Friday, citing senior Lebanese political and diplomatic sources.

“Iran, Syria and Hezbollah don’t have a clear picture about what Americans have planned,” said one diplomat,“but [they] too are prepared for various scenarios.”

Political sources said Hezbollah put “tens of thousands” of fighters and reservists on alert in anticipation of a US strike.“Everyone in Hezbollah who has been trained to use weapons has been put on high alert,” one political source told the Lebanese daily. “The party is ready for all eventualities.”

Iran and Hezbollah have repeatedly indicated that they would back Syria’s Bashar Assad regime in the event of a strike in response to the reported use of chemical weapons in a Damascus suburb on August 

21, which the US says killed 1,429 people.

Lebanese officials cited in the Daily Star report warned that Iran and Hezbollah see the targeting of Syrian army posts, airfields and weapons depots as a strategic threat to their interests and of course to Assad, which would give them a reason to intervene. But the officials indicated that they were likely to do so only if the US strike seriously threatened the regime’s rule.

But Syria too has a bank of targets, according to the Lebanese report, having already threatened to strike Israel, Turkey and Jordan in retaliation for any attack.

Meanwhile, the US is also preparing for an expansion of targets should the decision to carry out an attack come through. On Friday, it was reported that US President Barack Obama instructed the Pentagon to add Syrian sites to its target list, with the order coming in response to intelligence indications that the Syrian government has moved troops and equipment used to employ chemical weapons.

The US is considering employing Air Force bombers in addition to ship-launched cruise missiles.Hmmm.....'Limited strike'....yeah whatevah.