Washington (CNN) The Pentagon is monitoring and questioning the presence of over a dozen Russian Navy warships that are currently deployed in the Eastern Mediterranean, within striking distance of Syria.

The presence of the Russian warships comes as US officials tell CNN that US intelligence assesses that Moscow's Syrian allies have carried out airstrikes against medical facilities in Idlib, one of the few remaining rebel held areas in the country.

The Russian Navy "has been steadily building a large contingent of naval assets close to Syria with more than a dozen ships, many of those KALIBR-missile-equipped," Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon told CNN referring to the Russian-made cruise missile.

NATO officials have also expressed concern about the presence of the Russian warships saying that allied vessels in the region from the Netherlands, Canada, Greece and Spain have were keeping a close eye on their Russian counterparts.

While Russia's Ministry of Defense had said that the naval deployment of some 26 ships and 34 aircraft was in order to conduct a military exercise, the US Department of Defense questioned why the Russian assets remained after the exercise ended.

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