Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now...
vowed Thursday to defend Syria from attack as Washington and London laid out their case for punitive military strikes against Damascus over suspected poisonous gas attacks.
"Syria will defend itself in the face of any aggression," state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
quoted Assad as saying.
The United States said it deployed a fifth destroyer to the eastern Mediterranean while Russia was reportedly sending in two warships and Britannia dispatched fighter jets to Cyprus.
The mood among Damascus residents was fearful, while security forces prepared for possible air attacks by pulling back troops from potential targets and imposing tougher security controls.
Southeast of the capital, a boom-mobile killed nine soldiers in the town of Nabak, sparking festivities between troops and rebels, a watchdog reported.
Syria's nervous neighbors stepped up preparations for conflict, with Israel authorizing a partial call-up of army reservists while Turkey put its forces on heightened vigilance.
U.S. President Barack Obama
...I am not a dictator!
, who a year ago warned the use of chemical arms would cross a "red line," on Wednesday said Washington had definitively concluded Assad's regime was to blame for the August 21 attacks.
Asked how close he was to ordering a U.S. strike, Obama said: "I have not made a decision."