A new US-led contingency headquarters for joint US, Israeli, Jordanian and Turkish operations inside Syria will go into action if any or all these allies should come under chemical or biological attack. This was the upshot of the talks US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel held with visiting Israeli defense Minister Ehud Barak at the Pentagon Tuesday, March 5. Hagel forecast imminent chemical warfare that would be kicked off by  Al Qaeda-linked militias to further their territorial expansion plans and quickly spill over Syria's borders..