These Three Maps Show Just How Much Western Power Is Surrounding Syria Right Now

MICHAEL KELLEY, GEOFFREY INGERSOLL AND MIKE NUDELMAN businessinsider.com The U.S., despite lack of U.N. approval and growing demands for legal justifications, is determined to strike Syria in response to an Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack attributed to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Earlier we posted a Reuters map that listed the U.S., British, and French forces and bases that are positioned near Syria. But that doesn't tell the whole story, since it does not illustrate what those assets are threatening. So we added to it with information from maps created by Foreign Policy, Agence France-Presse, the Institute for the Study of War, The Telegraph and two via BBC in addition to highlighting U.S. military bases in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Here's what the Western assets in the arena currently look like: