President Obama met with congressional leaders at the White House today in a successful effort to convince them that a reprisal strike on Syria is necessary to punish the regime for their use of chemical weapons on their own population. Both Republican and Democrat leaders in the House expressed their support for the president. Meanwhile Syria prepares for the worse.

In a statement to reporters after the meeting at the White House House Speaker John Boehner said, “I’m going to support the president’s call for action; I believe that my colleagues should support this call for action.”

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia also revealed his intentions to support the president’s plan for a reprisal strike against Syria’s government.

Saying that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad acted far outside the norms of civilized behavior, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi expressed her support for President Obama.

Senate Leaders are more skeptical of a military strike however, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell did not offer any support for action on Syria, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that he is confident that the Senate will pass a resolution authorizing an attack on the Middle Eastern country even if the resolution runs into opposition in the Senate. Reid did not attend the meeting at the White House today but says he has been in almost-daily contact with the president on the matter.

Although virtually all of the congressional leaders are on board with the president, the House and the Senate still need to meet on the matter. Those meetings will take place next week. It is unclear how much leeway will be given to the president in the resolutions however. The Senate is expected to vote first on the issue.

Alaska’s delegates to Washington say they have not yet been fully convinced that a military strike is the best approach to the situation but are convinced that Assad did target his people in a chemical attack.

American voters, according to a Washington Post- ABC News poll released Tuesday, do not support an attack on Syria with both Republican and Democratic voters opposed to action, 59% of voters are in opposition. Only 30% of Democrats and 28% of Republican voters even agree that the U.S. should arm the rebels in the conflict.

Opposition to an airstrike on Syria is not only opposed nationally but internationally as well. Britain’s Parliament opposed a military strike without a U.N. Security Council approval handing the Prime Minister there a defeat last week.

Although France’s President Francois Hollande has expressed support, he will more than likely leave the final say to his country’s Parliament as well.

Support for a strike by the west is not likely to come from the U.N. Security Council as China and Russia stand opposed to such a measure. Russia is a staunch ally of the Syrian regime.

As approval for a strike inches along in the U.S. Assad has used that time to redeploy his military and has moved troops from bases to universities, schools, cultural centers, and other areas that a military strike would not readily attack. Anti-aircraft rockets have been positioned throughout the areas outside of the Syrian capital and tanks armed with anti-aircraft guns have been positioned prominently around Damascus. Many military personnel have donned civilian clothing to melt into the crowds of the city. In other areas truckloads of troops have been moved to the countryside and into mountainous areas according to reports coming out of Syria.