Meanwhile, NATO military forces are set to conduct large-scale maneuvers in November that will be designed to counter growing concerns of a westward Russian military encroachment, according to U.S. officials.

“The Russians are moving forces closer to Europe, and that is troubling,” said a military official.

Russia’s Zapad-13 military exercises in Belarus are scheduled to end Thursday. They included practice attacks on a western state, said one official familiar with reports of the maneuvers.

Some 13,000 Russian and Belarusian troops took part with over 60 aircraft and helicopters and up to 250 vehicles.

The forces practiced “rapid reaction” drills.

Russian officials recently denied Polish press reports that the Zapad-13 would include a notional nuclear attack on Warsaw. However, Russian officials have said the war games will involve practicing precision air and missile strikes.

On the Russian air base, Russian air force chief Lt. Gen. Vladimir Bondarev announced in June that the air base for Su-27 jets in Belarus would be opened near the city of Lida, near the border with Poland and Lithuania.

Bondarev said the warplanes would bolster a 1997 defense agreement between the two countries in response to NATO expansion.

It will be Russia’s first military base in Europe since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and along with it the Warsaw Pact, in 1991. Moscow currently has military bases in Armenia, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan.

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Putin will renew an old offer to supply Iran with five of the sophisticated ground-to-air missile systems at a meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rowhani on Friday, Kommersant said, quoting a souce close to the Kremlin.

Putin is set to meet Rowhani at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation held in Kyrgyzstan on Friday.

Russia in 2007 signed a contract to deliver five of the advanced ground-to-air weapons — which can take out aircraft or guided missiles — to Iran at a cost of $800 million.

In 2010, then-president Dmitry Medvedev cancelled the contract after coming under strong US and Israeli pressure not to go ahead with the sale of the weapons system, drawing vehement protests from Tehran.

The source told Kommersant that Russia’s offer would depend on Iran’s withdrawing a $4 billion lawsuit that it has lodged at an international court in Geneva against Russia’s arms export agency.

Kommersant wrote that Putin would offer to supply Tehran with a modified export version of the S-300 systems called S-300VM Antey-2500.

Russia has urged the West to soften sanctions against Iran after the election of Rowhani, a centrist cleric, in June.

The source also said that Putin was ready to sign a deal with Iran on building a second reactor for the Bushehr nuclear plant.

The source said the deal was not “particularly profitable from an economic point of view, but was rather political.”

Russia completed the construction of Bushehr, which is Iran’s only functioning nuclear power station, despite protests from Israel and the United States.

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As he touched down in St. Petersburg on Thursday morning, President Obama greeted his host Vladimir Putin with a handshake and a smile.

But the cordial greeting belies the tinderbox the two leaders are sitting on, as they posture and deliberate over a potential U.S. strike on Syria — one of Russia’s closest Mideast allies.

Putin escalated concerns about the fallout from any strike when he indicated in an interview published Wednesday that his country could send Syria and its neighbors in the region the components of a missile shield if the U.S. attacks.

U.S. Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified this week that the Russians might even replace any military assets the U.S. destroys in a strike.

The warnings raise the possibility of a supposedly “limited” strike on Syria turning into a proxy tit-for-tat between Russia and the U.S.

Rep. George Holding, R-N.C., went further during a hearing on Syria on Wednesday, pressing military officials on what the U.S. would do “if Russia decided to strike at us in that theater.”

“We can certainly say that Russia would have options to strike us in that theater in retaliation for us striking their ally,” he warned.

Dempsey declined to engage in that discussion, saying only that “Russia has capabilities that range from the asymmetric, including cyber, all the way up through strategic nuclear weapons. And again, it wouldn’t be helpful in this setting to speculate about that.”

Secretary of State John Kerry, though, said the Russians have made clear they don’t intend to go to war over a strike on Syria.

Perhaps more likely is that Putin’s government would continue to aid and prop up the Assad regime, undermining any gains made by a U.S. strike.

“Putin will live up to what he says,” Fox News military analyst retired Lt. Col. Ralph Peters said.” If we destroy Syrian military technology, Putin will replace it.”

Putin said in a published interview this week that he’d reconsider the status of a suspended S-300 missile defense contract.

“We have a contract for the delivery of the S-300s. We have supplied some of the components, but the delivery hasn’t been completed,” he said. “We have suspended it for now. But if we see that steps are taken that violate the existing international norms, we shall think how we should act in the future, in particular regarding supplies of such sensitive weapons to certain regions of the world.”

The possibility for Russia stepping up its role in the region makes Obama’s visit to Russia all the more critical. Though the president has nixed a formal one-on-one sitdown with Putin during the G-20 summit, he is expected to speak with the Russian leader on the sidelines. Though he said Wednesday that U.S.-Russian relations have “hit a wall,” he said he’d continue to engage Putin.

“It is not possible for Mr. Assad to regain legitimacy in a country where he’s killed tens of thousands of his own people,” Obama said. “So far, at least, Mr. Putin has rejected that logic.”

Obama added: “I’m always hopeful, and I will continue to engage him.”

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“The day of reckoning is near,” according to Hossein Shariatmadari, the chief editor of Keyhan newspaper, an outlet controlled by Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

An Op-Ed penned by Shariatmadari Tuesday warned that the impending confrontation between the West and Syria would “provide the long-awaited opportunity for revenge against Israel and America.”

The editor recalled the U.S.-led attack on Baghdad on March 20, 2003, and President George W. Bush’s boast to reporters seven days later that the “Iraq war is over.” But when the last U.S. soldiers were leaving Iraq in December 2011, nearly 4,500 Americans had been killed and the war had cost America trillions of dollars.

Shariatmadari said that Washington, instead of open war against Syria, has been waging a proxy war against the Assad regime with the help of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan and Egypt. He said now it is ready to directly confront Syria militarily, one of the members of the Resistance Front along with Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. However, despite Syrian rebels receiving financial and military support from those Middle East countries, not only has the Assad regime not been overthrown but it has opened a “new chapter for the Resistance where it formed the forces of ‘defense of Homeland,’ a force similar to the Basij militias (in Iran).”

Iran has long drawn a red line around the Assad regime. And Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon, Israel’s neighbor, are armed with thousands of missiles. The three members of the Resistance Front have a joint war room.

“Because of the failure of the intended proxy war, America and some Arab and European countries are preparing to attack Syria on the false claims that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons,” the editor said. “However, America can certainly start the war but it won’t be the one to end it.”

Shariatmadari said that Israel is the “Achilles’ heel of America and its European allies and without a doubt with the start of an attack on Syria, thousands of missiles will rain down all over the occupied lands (Israel), which will destroy its critical facilities as it was obvious that its missile defense system (the Iron Dome) could not prevent missiles reaching Tel Aviv.”

He also warned Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey and others who support attacking Syria that they themselves will come under attack from Syria.

“Muslims should welcome the news of

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The Iranians and North Koreans, based inside Syria, are focusing their efforts on ensuring the viability of Syria’s air defense systems while maintaining the embattled country’s vast missile arsenal, the officials said.

The officials said Iran has gone so far as to pledge soldiers to Syria if such mercenaries are needed in a confrontation.

Russian military experts are also participating in the preparation efforts by advising the Syrian army, but Moscow has not met the expectations of Bashar al-Assad’s regime regarding the extent of their involvement, the officials said,

The Middle Eastern security officials further told WND they have information Iran failed to convince the Hamas command in the Gaza Strip to fire rockets into the Jewish state in the event of a Western attack on Syria.

The officials believe that if a Western attack against Damascus is surgical and is carried out without the goal of regime change, the Syrians may not retaliate against Israel.

However, the officials said the regime is preparing to possibly use Hezbollah in Lebanon to launch attacks against opposition forces inside the country aiding the Syrian rebels, the officials added.

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The Russian Foreign Ministry said its statement was a response to U.S. actions to give it the option of an armed strike against Syria.

It drew a parallel between reports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces had used chemical weapons and Washington’s 2003 intervention in Iraq following accusations by then-President George Bush’s administration that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s government possessed weapons of mass destruction.

“We once again decisively urge (the United States) not to repeat the mistakes of the past and not to allow actions that go against international law,” the ministry said.

“Any unilateral military action bypassing the United Nations will … lead to further escalation (in Syria) and will affect the already explosive situation in the Middle East in the most devastating way.”

Moscow said any military action would severely hamper joint U.S.-Russian efforts for an international peace conference to end a civil war that has killed more than 100,000 people.

“The threat to use force against the Syrian regime sends the (Syrian) opposition conflicting signals,” the ministry said. “All sponsors of the opposition, which have influence over it, must seek the fastest possible agreement from Bashar al-Assad’s opponents to hold talks.”

U.S. President Barack Obama met his security advisers on Saturday to debate options following reports of the alleged chemical attack. U.S. naval forces have been repositioned in the Mediterranean to give Washington the option of an armed strike.

Syria’s opposition accused Assad’s forces of gassing many hundreds of people – by one report as many as 1,300 – on Wednesday. Syria said earlier on Sunday it had agreed to let the experts visit the site.

Russia, which has suggested that Syrian rebels may have carried out the attack, also said on Sunday that assigning blame too soon over the alleged poison gas strike would be a “tragic mistake”, before a U.N. investigation on Monday.

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The joint maneuvers were carried out at the Chebarkul combined training range here in Russia’s Ural Mountains.

The troops also practised joint reconnaissance, joint block and control (of accident areas), joint strike and joint support for campaign equipment.

Xinhua reporters saw a Russian Mil Mi-26 helicopter above the training ground refuel Chinese and Russian tanks and infantry fighting vehicles under covering fire.

Pan Liangshi, chief officer in the Chinese campaign command and commander of the People’s Liberation Army’s 39th Group Army, said Chinese and Russian troops had been conducting daily coordinated exercises since the drill entered the battle planning phase and had enjoyed better cooperation.

Peace Mission-2013, running from July 27 to Aug. 15, has three phases — troop deployment, battle planning and simulated combat.

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CNN reports that 35 Americans were in Benghazi during the attack, seven of whom were wounded. One source calls the current effort to silence those with knowledge of what happened that night unprecedented. CIA operatives are reportedly being subjected to frequent, even monthly, polygraph tests to insure they remain silent.

Robert Baer, an analyst with knowledge of CIA procedures, tells CNN “If somebody is being polygraphed every month, or every two months it’s called an issue polygraph, and that means that the polygraph division suspects something, or they’re looking for something, or they’re on a fishing expedition. But it’s absolutely not routine at all to be polygraphed monthly, or bi-monthly.”

The new revelations are consistent with claims that people with knowledge of what happened in Benghazi were being asked or pressured to sign additional non-disclosure agreements. Rep. Frank Wolf claimed that his office had been told this last month.

The story also refers to behind-the-scenes activity as pure intimidation. One unnamed insider tells CNN ” You have no idea the amount of pressure being brought to bear on anyone with knowledge of this operation.” The goal of the pressure is to prevent anyone from talking to “the media or Congress.”

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The large-scale military drill also involves nearly 1,000 tanks and armored fighting vehicles, 130 aircraft from a wide range of units and 70 naval ships, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on a conference call, according to the Ministry of Defense website.

Aside from performing given tasks, the troops will practice long-distance march and live ammunition firing tactics. The drill also plans to transport troops to a location 3,000 km away by railway, ocean and air.

Shoigu said the military exercise did not target any other country.

President Vladimir Putin issued the drill order on Friday, requesting Russia’s Eastern Military Area Command be in full combat readiness by early Saturday morning and military force be transported to appointed exercise area.

The units from the Central Military Area Command, the Pacific Ocean Fleet, Air Force remote units and military transport aviation units also joined the drill.

The information bureau of Russia’s Defense Ministry said the military exercise would last for a week.

President Putin began surprise checks for armed forces in February to test combat readiness level.

On his way back from a visit abroad on March 28, Putin decided to launch a “non-routine” military exercise in the Black Sea area.

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Fang Fenghui, chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People’ s Liberation Army (PLA), together with his Russian counterpart Valery Gerasimov, ratified relevant documents and announced the decision at a joint press conference.

Fang, who is also a member of the Central Military Commission, is paying an official visit to Russia.

According to the two officials, Chinese and Russian armed forces will hold “Joint Sea-2013″ drill in Peter the Great Bay, Sea of Japan from July 5 to July 12, and China-Russia joint anti- terrorism military drill code-named Peace Mission-2013 in Russia’s Chelyabinsk from July 27 to August 15.

The joint drills are not targeting any third party, and meant to strengthen cooperation between the two armed forces in military training, enhance their capability in coordinating military operations, so that they can play a positive role in safeguarding regional security and stability, Fang said.

In a separate meeting with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Fang praised the good momentum of relationship between the two armed forces and their fruitful cooperation.

China, together with Russia, is willing to enhance high-level mutual visits, professional and personnel exchanges as well as joint exercises between the two armed forces, so as to push forward bilateral military ties, Fang said.

Shoigu, for his part, called for closer military exchanges and coordination between the two close neighbors and strategic partners in the context of new challenges facing regional and global peace and stability.

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