​Russia has put their entire military on the highest alert because of the tension in Syria. Russia has also deployed 77,000 troops to the Ukraine front. Other Russian troops including mobile nuclear missile units have been sent to Belarus and other western front locations facing Europe.

The US and French governments are reported to be planning an offensive attack against Syria in retaliation to the alleged chemical attack in Syria. Trump said today the decision would probably be made today - on what actions to take in response to what he called these "atrocities from "Animal Assad". In other reports he said that a decision would be made in 24 to 48 hours. Military experts are expecting a US launched missile attack against Syria in 2-3 days.

It is reported that the missile attack was made by Israel from Israeli submarines, which launched missiles over Lebanon to hit Syrian targets. Syria claims to have intercepted and destroyed 8 incoming missiles. There were also reports of Israeli fighter jets hitting other targets inside Syria. The Syrian government claims that 14 people were killed in one location, and many of them were Iranians.

In my opinion there is a 99% chance that Trump will order a military strike against Syria - and there is a 95% chance Putin will retaliate with measured responses. After that it is anyone's guess what will happen next. At that point if Israel and the US backs down from any further offensive moves things could go back to normal with Russia to a state of "détente". However, if Trump or Israel increases the responses we could face a larger war which even makes a nuclear option possible by one or more sides in the Middle East. If a war starts the best the Russians can hope for is a stalemate and détente. Regardless what Russia does, the US and Israel will win or accept a stalemate. The sad part is - in the aftermath, millions of innocent lives hang in the balance.

George Eaton