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Barack Obama

The United States is continuing to seek an “international coalition” for action against Syria’s alleged use of chemical weapons against civilians, after the UK parliament rejected a resolution endorsing such action, the US Defence Secretary has said.
Chuck Hagel said yesterday that his country would continue to seek international partners who would “act together” in response to alleged chemical weapons attack on 21 August.

The US Defence Secretary’s comments came hours after the UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, was dealt an unexpected blow in parliament, with MPs voting against authorising military action against Syria in principle by 285 to 272 votes.

Thursday evening’s vote was non-binding, but in practice the rejection of military strikes means Cameron’s hands are tied.
The British Defence Secretary, Philip Hammond, said that Britain would not take part in any military action.

Despite the outcome of the vote, the US said it would “continue to consult”with London, “one of our closest allies and friends”.
“President Obama’s decision-making will be guided by what is in the best interests of the United States,” a White House statement said.
It added that Obama “believes that there are core interests at stake for the United States and that countries who violate international norms regarding chemical weapons need to be held accountable”.

Meanwhile, in France, President Francois Hollande said that the alleged chemical attacks in Damascus “must not remain unpunished”.
He told the Le Monde newspaper yesterday that while he was not in favour of “an international intervention that aims at ‘liberating’ Syria or overthrow the dictator”, he did think “a halt needs to be brought to a regime that commits irreparable harm on its population”.
He said that if the “[UN] Security Council is unable to act, a coalition will form” which should be “as broad as possible”.

Hollande also clarified that his country was not deterred by the UK parliament’s move that the country’s participation in military action, and that “all options” remain on the table in terms of a response.

The French parliament is due to meet on Wednesday for an emergency Syria session.
The comments came as German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle added Germany to the list of countries that would not be engaging in the military action.

Westerwelle told the Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung newspaper that such action had “neither been asked nor is it being considered by us”, according to comments pre-released by the paper. “We are pushing for the United Nations Security Council to find a common position and for the work of UN inspectors to be finished as quickly as possible,” he added.

UN chemical inspectors in Syria, meanwhile, continued their work on the final day of site visits in Syria on Friday, heading to a military hospital in  the Mazzeh district of the capital.

The inspectors have been in the country investigating allegations the Syrian government used chemical weapons against civilians in an attack that aid agencies killed at least 355 people and injured as many as 3 000 others.

Syria denies that it carried out the attack, and has accused rebels of having carried out a similar attack on 24 August in the Jobar area of Damascus.

On Thursday, the Syrian President said that his country would defend itself against any foreign military intervention, according to the state media. — Al Jazeera