[Blitzer:] Welcome back to our special report, "Crisis in Syria." Happening now: the crisis sparking growing fear and diplomatic drama in neighboring Jordan, where U.S. military leaders, they are now meeting with other Middle East allies and beyond. CNN's global resources are on the story. Also, Syria experts a look at what happens next in the wake of that apparent chemical weapons attack. And a U.S. soldier is honored not only for his heroism in Afghanistan, but his honesty about what followed. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM. Inexcusable, undeniable, and a moral obscenity, remarkably strong language from Secretary of State John Kerry today talking about Syria's apparent chemical weapons attack on its own citizens last week. The tough new tone is raising concern about a possible U.S. military intervention in the country's two-and-a-half-year-old civil war. And the developments are ratcheting up tension in capitals around the region, indeed around much of the world. CNN correspondents are working the story in Russia, in Jordan, and in Israel. Let's begin with CNN's Phil Black in Moscow.
[Phil Black, Cnn Correspondent:] Wolf, despite the allegations of a large-scale chemical weapons attack, Russia's position on the possibility of military intervention in Syria hasn't changed, and so nor has its message to the United States and its allies: Don't even think about it. Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, says there's not enough evidence to blame the Syrian government for this attack, and says there's actually substantial evidence and a lot of common sense suggesting Syrian opposition forces were responsible. And he's also cast doubt on the authenticity of some of those videos which appeared online claiming to show the aftermath of the chemical weapons attack. He says he believes some of them were uploaded hours before the attack took place. The Russian government says the opposition force's motivation for carrying out such an attack against the Syrian people would be to scuttle any chance for the peace process. Russia, the United States, other parties have been working together to hold a big international conference that would hopefully settle the conflict in Syria diplomatically once and for all. But Russia says it doesn't believe the opposition wants that conference to take place and would prefer to fight for an outright military result. Russia compares the possibility of any sort of military strike in Syria to America's earlier wars in Iraq and Libya and says, just like those conflicts, this one would be illegal. It would destabilize the country and the region Wolf.
[Blitzer:] Phil Black in Moscow. Thank you. The escalating conflict has Jordan in a very vulnerable position, both diplomatically and geographically. CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is in Amman. We want to warn you: his report contains some very disturbing images.
[Nic Robertson, Cnn Senior International Correspondent:] Wolf, Jordan's position has been very clear. They say they want a diplomatic solution. Indeed, when you look at their position right now over these military meetings that are going on here involving Saudi Arabia, the United States, Qatar, Turkey, Britain, France, Germany, Italy. The Jordanian position is really to play down the profile of this meeting. It doesn't want to be perceived as hosting a meeting where there's going to be a decision over intervention in Syria based on these alleged chemical attacks. Jordan feels that that would put them in potentially a very dangerous situation: missile strikes, potentially chemical missile strikes, even, from Syria would be one of their concerns. Terrorist strikes, as well, precipitated by the Assad regime, would be another one of their concerns. It is pretty much an open secret here that there is weapons smuggling through the Jordanian border into Syria, into the hands of Syrian rebels going on. Saudi Arabia says it's supplying weapons. The Jordanian government's position on that is that it's doing everything it can to stop the smuggling across the border, and that it doesn't want to aid and inflame the military situation, if you will, inside of Syria. Jordan really at the moment feels vulnerable for many reasons, buffeted by what's being going on with the Arab Spring, buffeted by the tensions that exist in the country here, the king not as popular as he used to be, allegations of official corruption in the country. All these things make Jordan a little less stable than it used to be. It's trying to stay out of trouble, Wolf.
[Blitzer:] Nic Robertson in Amman, Jordan, thank you. Israel is warning that if Syria is allowed to get away with a chemical weapons attack, its enemies will be emboldened. CNN's Jim Clancy is in Jerusalem, and he's getting Israeli reaction.
[Jim Clancy, Cnn Correspondent/anchor:] Wolf, Israel has long been concerned about Syria's stockpile of chemical weapons, but before last week, was more concerned they might be transferred to Syria's ally and Israel's arch enemy, Hezbollah. The Iranian-backed militant group based in Lebanon has tens of thousands of missiles aimed at the Jewish state. But the alleged use of chemical weapons and the mass casualties caused has raised alarm bells. Prime Minister Netanyahu declared that both Iran and Hezbollah are right now watching what will be the world's response if it's proved that the chemical arms were employed by the regime. He describes Syria as a testing ground and warned it was ample evidence we can't allow the world's most dangerous regimes to acquire the world's most dangerous weapons. Israel will not be the one to intervene in Syria in this case. But it's not coy about its hopes that Washington and the Europeans will send a strong message, and not just in writing Wolf.
[Blitzer:] Jim Clancy in Jerusalem for us. Thank you. The most recent American military intervention came in Libya. That was back in March of 2011. Working with NATO allies to establish a no-fly zone and protect Libyan rebels and civilians, the U.S. fired about 200 Tomahawk cruise missiles, mainly aimed at destroying Moammar Gadhafi's air defense system. Each of those missiles has a production unit cost of about half a million dollars, but the real price tag for each missile, about $1.4 million. That comes out to just north of a quarter of a billion dollars for those cruise missiles that were fired. The United States also flew hundreds of aircraft sorties over Libya. Lost an F-15, by the way, jet fighter during the operation. The crew, fortunately, survived. While the missiles are fired from long distances off the shore, offshore, the U.S. the use of manned aircraft would certainly bring the risk of American casualties if the U.S. were to get so involved in Syria. That would be the unlikeliest option, putting U.S. boots on the ground in Syria. And of course, that would make casualties a near certainty. Up next on our special report "Crisis in Syria," how would Bashar al-Assad handle a U.S. military strike? I'll ask someone who knows the Syrian leader. Plus, one-time U.S. ally Iraq used chemical weapons during its brutal war with Iran back in the 1980s. Did U.S. officials know what was going on? Stand by.