Obama makes case for Syria strike, British house votes no

Free Syrian Army fighters drive a military tank that belonged to forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad after they seized it, in Aleppo's town of Khanasir August 29, 2013.[Photo/Agencies]

The United Nations said its team of inspectors would leave Syria on Saturday and report to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

France and Germany urged the world body to pass its report on to the decision-making Security Council as soon as possible "so that it can fulfill its responsibility with regards to this monstrous crime."

The United States, Britain and France say they can act with or without a UN Security Council resolution, which would likely be vetoed by Russia, a close ally of Assad. But some countries are more cautious: Italy said it would not join any military operation without Security Council authorization.

Western diplomats say they are seeking a vote in the 15-member Council to isolate Moscow and demonstrate that other countries are behind air strikes.

A report from Moscow that Russia is sending two warships to the eastern Mediterranean underscored the complications surrounding even a limited military strike, although Russia has said it will not be drawn into military conflict.

The ambassadors of the five veto-wielding permanent UN Security Council members appeared to have made no progress at a meeting on Thursday, a council diplomat said. The five - the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France - had held an inconclusive meeting on Wednesday to discuss a draft Security Council resolution that would authorize "all necessary force" in response to the alleged gas attack.

Cameron told Britain's parliament it would be "unthinkable" to proceed if there was overwhelming opposition in the Security Council. But he published legal advice given to the government under which military action would be lawful for humanitarian reasons even if a Security Council resolution were blocked by a veto.

The International Committee of the Red Cross joined a chorus of international voices urging caution.

"Further escalation will likely trigger more displacement and add to humanitarian needs, which are already immense," said Magne Barth, head of the ICRC delegation in Syria.

Increasing expectations that any action will be delayed ended a three-day selloff on world share markets on Thursday, although investors were still on edge over fears of future turmoil in the Middle East.

'SHOT ACROSS THE BOW'

Obama sought to win over a war-weary American public on Wednesday evening by saying intervention in Syria, where more than 100,000 people have been killed in 2 1/2 years of civil war, would serve US national security interests.

"If we are saying in a clear and decisive but very limited way, we send a shot across the bow saying, 'Stop doing this,' this can have a positive impact on our national security over the long term," he told "PBS Newshour" in a televised interview.

According to the US national security officials, evidence that forces loyal to Assad were responsible goes beyond the circumstantial to include electronic intercepts and some tentative scientific samples from the site.

"This was not a rogue operation," one US official said.

Western leaders are expected in Russia next Thursday for a meeting of the Group of 20 big economies, an event that could influence the timing of any strikes. The hosts have made clear their view that Western leaders are using human rights as a pretext to impose their will on other sovereign states.

A spokesman for the main Syrian opposition umbrella group, the Syrian National Coalition, said the opposition was confident Western leaders were prepared to act.

SNC leader Ahmed Jarba met French President Francois Hollande. An SNC spokesman said they discussed a two-wave intervention to first target installations used to launch chemical weapons and then hit other government bases in Syria.

"We are very happy. France and its partners are quite decided to punish the Syrian regime," SNC envoy Monzer Makhous told Reuters after the talks. "Then there will be military aid to help the opposition to change the balance of power."

Hollande urged Jarba to create a credible military force, highlighting Western concern that the mainstream opposition is unable to control al Qaeda-linked militias on the ground in Syria. Syrian officials say the West is playing into the hands of its al Qaeda enemies.

In Damascus, residents and opposition forces said Assad's forces appeared to have evacuated most personnel from army and security command headquarters in the centre in preparation for Western military action.

People unable to decide whether to leave for neighboring Lebanon said the border was already jammed.

"We're hearing people are spending hours - like 12 or 14 hours - waiting in line at the border," said Nabil, who was considering leaving town for Beirut with his wife and young daughter, "just until the strike is over."

Diplomats based in the Middle East told Reuters the removal of some of Assad's Scud missiles and launchers from the foothills of the Qalamoun mountains, one of Syria's most heavily militarized districts, appeared to be part of a precautionary but limited redeployment of armaments.

Despite opinion polls showing most Americans oppose deeper involvement in the Syrian conflict, Obama has been under pressure to enforce a "red line" against chemical weapons use, which he declared just over a year ago.

"I have no interest in any open-ended conflict in Syria, but we do have to make sure that when countries break international norms on weapons like chemical weapons that could threaten us, that they are held accountable," Obama said.

The likeliest option, US officials say, would be to launch cruise missiles from US ships in the Mediterranean in a campaign that would last days.

A fifth US destroyer, the USS Stout, was headed toward the coast off Syria, according to one defense official. That would bring the total of US destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean to five, although the Stout is likely to relieve the USS Mahan, which had been due to return to its US base but stayed in the region due to the situation in Syria.

Still the decision to replace the Mahan with another destroyer means the United States will be maintaining an expanded presence in the region.