Despite a warning in a new UN report on Syria saying “there is a human cost to the increased availability of weapons” inside the war torn country, the US is sending more military hardware into the region by stationing Patriot missile batteries and F-16 fighter jets in neighboring Jordan.

Though the Pentagon says the weapons are being sent for military exercises, indications were also made that the weapons could remain for an extended period.

As Al-Jazeera reports:

The decision to possibly station F-16s and missile batteries in Jordan will fuel speculation of a potential US military intervention, which the White House so far has described as a remote possibility.

Patriot missiles are designed to shoot down Scud or other short-range missiles, known to be in the Assad regime’s arsenal.

Tensions rose between the US, Russia, and other nations early last week when Russia said it would send advanced missiles systems to the embattled government of President Bashar al-Assad, which only built on larger concerns that the internal Syrian struggle would spiral into a larger regional conflict as those backing different factions inside the country jockeyed for position and traded threats over weapon shipments.

The UN report released on Tuesday sought to address earlier ‘murky’ reports about use of chemical weapons inside Syria. Though the investigation found evidence that some ‘limited’ forms of poisonous agents may have been used, the extent and details of their deployment remained largely unclear.

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