US Vice-President Joe Biden: ''There is no doubt
who is responsible for this heinous use of chemical weapons in Syria -
the Syrian regime''
US
Vice-President Joe Biden has said there is "no doubt" that the Syrian
government has used chemical weapons and that it must be held
accountable.
The US has said its military is ready to launch strikes
should President Barack Obama order an attack, and allies say they too
are ready to act.The Syrian government has strongly denied claims it used chemical weapons.
UN weapons inspectors are set to return to the site of last week's suspected attack near Damascus on Wednesday.
Their evidence-gathering visit was delayed by a day after they were fired on.
The US says it will release its own intelligence report into the incident at Ghouta, a suburb of the capital, in the coming days.
More than 300 people reportedly died there.
At the scene
A good number of Syrians, in particular those supporting the regime, believe the visit of the UN chemical weapons investigation team is nothing but a move to justify a military attack on Syria. The opposition, however, thinks that these visits will lead to some evidence being unearthed, proving that chemical weapons have been used against civilians by the Syrian regime.Above all, fear and discomfort are palpable among those living in the capital. People are haunted by the possibility of a Western military strike on Syria, discussion of which is dominating the headlines of satellite channels.
"I don't want Syria to become another Iraq... Enough bloodshed," cried one Syrian woman.
"We, and thousands like us across Syria, will face any country that tries to attack us," threatened a young man, pointing at his weapon, which he uses to protect his neighbourhood. "These are Syria's problems and it is up to us, Syrians, to solve them."
Russia, China and Iran have
warned of what Moscow called the "catastrophic" consequences of
launching an attack on the war-ravaged country, where more than 100,000
people are thought to have died in two years of fighting.
Global stocks plunged and oil prices shot up amid growing concern about an impending attack.No 'regime change' The US has not yet released its intelligence report into the alleged chemical attack, but US officials now say they are certain the Syrian government was behind the incident.
Mr Biden is the most senior member of the Obama administration to blame the Syrian government for the attack.
In a speech to a veterans' group in Houston, he said there was "no doubt who was responsible for this heinous use of chemical weapons in Syria: the Syrian regime".
He said that "those who use chemical weapons against defenceless men, women, and children... must be held accountable".
White House spokesman Jay Carney earlier said it would be "fanciful" to think anyone else could be responsible - saying the Syrian regime remained in control of the country's chemical arsenal and used the type of rocket that carried the payload used last Wednesday.
But he insisted there were no plans for "regime change". Any military campaign is likely to be limited in scope, with missile strikes targeting military sites and no ground troops.
In a BBC interview, US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel says the military is "ready to go" in responding to Syria
President Obama is said to have made at least 88 calls to foreign leaders since Wednesday's suspected attack, and spoke to UK Prime Minister David Cameron for the second time on Tuesday.
Mr Cameron said the world could "not stand idly by", and French President Francois Hollande said France was "ready to punish" whoever was behind the attack.
The UK's National Security Council is due to convene on Wednesday to discuss possible responses, while Parliament is to be recalled on Thursday.
The head of the UN chemical inspectors
team, Ake Sellstrom, and the UN's disarmament chief, Angela Kane, left
their hotel in Damascus on Tuesday
BBC diplomatic correspondent James
Robbins says the US, UK and France will now have the larger task of
building as wide a coalition as possible to support limited military
action.
Models for possible intervention
- Iraq 1991: US-led global military coalition, anchored in international law; explicit mandate from UN Security Council to evict Iraqi forces from Kuwait
- Balkans 1990s: US arms supplied to anti-Serb resistance in Croatia and Bosnia in defiance of UN-mandated embargo; later US-led air campaign against Serb paramilitaries. In 1999, US jets provided bulk of 38,000 Nato sorties against Serbia to prevent massacres in Kosovo - legally controversial with UN Security Council resolutions linked to "enforcement measures"
- Somalia 1992-93: UN Security Council authorised creation of international force with aim of facilitating humanitarian supplies as Somali state failed. Gradual US military involvement without clear objective culminated in Black Hawk Down disaster in 1993. US troops pulled out
- Libya 2011: France and UK sought UN Security Council authorisation for humanitarian operation in Benghazi in 2011. Russia and China abstained but did not veto resolution. Air offensive continued until fall of Gaddafi
Syrian opposition sources have said they have been told to expect a Western intervention in the conflict imminently.
"There is no precise timing... but one can speak of an
imminent international intervention against the regime. It's a question
of days and not weeks," AFP news agency quoted Syrian National Coalition
official Ahmad Ramadan as saying."There have been meetings between the Coalition, the [rebel] Free Syrian Army and allied countries during which possible targets have been discussed."
Meanwhile the Arab League said it held Syrian President Bashar al-Assad responsible for the attacks and called for UN action.
But both Russia and China are permanent members of the UN Security Council and yield a veto on possible action.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem demanded evidence that the government had used chemical weapons.
"I challenge all countries who [are] saying that Syria used chemical weapons to present their evidence to their public opinion," he told the BBC.
He told a news conference that faced with the choice of surrendering or defending itself, Damascus would fight.
Meanwhile, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin tweeted that: "The West behaves towards the Islamic world like a monkey with a grenade."
China's state news agency recalled that intelligence used to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq turned out to be flawed, while Syria's neighbour and ally Iran said any strike would threaten the stability of the region.
| Country | Forces available for Syria strike |
|---|---|
|
US |
Four destroyers - USS Gravely, USS Ramage, USS Barry and USS Mahan - in the eastern Mediterranean, equipped with cruise missiles
Cruise missiles could also be launched from submarines in the region Airbases at Incirlik and Izmir in Turkey could be used to carry out strikes Two aircraft carriers - USS Nimitz and USS Harry S Truman |
|
UK |
Cruise missiles could be launched from a British Trafalgar class submarine The Royal Navy's response force task group - which includes helicopter carrier HMS Illustrious and frigates HMS Montrose and HMS Westminster - is in the region on a previously-scheduled deployment Airbase in Cyprus could also be used |
|
France source: BBC |
Aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is currently in Toulon. Raffale and Mirage aircraft can also operate from Al-Dhahra airbase in the UAE |
