The US military has ships and aircraft in place to strike Syria if ordered to do so by President Donald Trump.
For now, Syria's Shayrat airbase remains under constant overhead surveillance by the US for further signs of whether a chemical strike may be in the works. The US recently observed the movement of an aircraft and chemical agents on a base toward possible preparation for an attack, CNN reported with reference to several defense officials.
Currently, the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush, along with two destroyers and two cruisers, are in the eastern Mediterranean Sea maintaining routine patrol positions.
The destroyers and cruisers could fire Tomahawk missiles without putting pilots in manned aircraft at risk. In addition, dozens of aircraft already in the Middle East for operations against ISIS in Syria and Iraq could be used in a potential strike.