President Trump is coming close to his self-imposed deadline to make a decision on how the United States will respond to the latest suspected chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime in the Syrian town of Douma. While the administration is still considering various options, everybody is anticipating that the order to strike the Syrian government has largely been made. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told his security ministers that “there is a high probability” of U.S. military action in Syria, and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., speculates that the White House will in fact respond forcefully.

Syrian President Bashar Assad appears to think so too; the Syrian military has reportedly issued an alert to all of its bases, a preparation to muster its defenses.