British Prime Minister David Cameron's office said Wednesday that he and US President Barack Obama had no doubt Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime had used chemical weapons against its own people.
Image taken from a video on YouTube by Moadamiyet al-Sham media centre on August 26, 2013 apparently shows UN arms experts inspecting the site in Damascus of an alleged chemical weapons strike. British Prime Minister David Cameron's office said Wednesday that he and US President Barack Obama had no doubt Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime had used chemical weapons against its own people.
"Both leaders agreed that all the information available confirmed a chemical weapons attack had taken place, noting that even the Iranian President and Syrian regime had conceded this," a Downing Street spokesperson said after the two leaders spoke on the phone Tuesday night.
"Both leaders agreed that all the information available confirmed a chemical weapons attack had taken place, noting that even the Iranian President and Syrian regime had conceded this," a Downing Street spokesperson said after the two leaders spoke on the phone Tuesday night.
"They both agreed they were in no doubt that the Assad regime was responsible."
The prime minister's office said the evidence clearly indicated Assad's forces had carried out a chemical weapons attack in the Damascus suburbs last week thought to have killed hundreds of people.
"Regime forces were carrying out a military operation to regain that area from the opposition at the time; and there is no evidence that the opposition has the capability to deliver such a chemical weapons attack," it said.
"The PM confirmed that the government had not yet taken a decision on the specific nature of our response, but that it would be legal and specific to the chemical weapons attack."
The statement came as Cameron prepared to chair a meeting of Britain's National Security Council later Wednesday.
The prime minister's office calls his talks with Obama "an opportunity for the PM to hear the latest US thinking on the issue and to set out the options being considered by the government".
The statement also came as UN inspectors set off Wednesday to a site in Damascus of the alleged chemical weapons attacks, a day after suspending their mission due to safety concerns, an AFP photographer said.
The team of arms experts boarded a convoy of six vehicles, the photographer said. It was unclear which site they were intending to visit.
The inspectors braved sniper fire when they began their mission on Monday but still managed to visit two field hospitals in Moadamiyet al-Sham, southwest of Damascus, and collect evidence of last week's suspected chemical attacks.
But they were unable carry out a planned visit to a second site in Eastern Ghouta, on the Syrian capital's northeastern outskirts, on Tuesday because their safety could not be guaranteed.
Opponents of Assad's regime say more than 1,300 people died when his forces unleashed toxic gases on the two neighbourhoods on August 21. The regime strongly denies the claim.
Russia Wednesday warned the West that military strikes against the Syrian regime could destabilise the entire Middle East..
In a telephone conversation with Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations and Arab League envoy on Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov "emphasised the lack of alternative to a diplomatic solution," the foreign ministry said.
Lavrov added "that attempts for a military solution will lead only to a further destabilisation of the situation in the country and the region," the ministry said.
It said both Brahimi and Lavrov agreed "that at this critical moment all sides -- including external players -- must act with the maximum responsibility and not repeat the mistakes of the past."
In a separate telephone call, Lavrov told US Secretary of State John Kerry that Moscow rejected Washington's claim the Syrian regime was behind the chemical weapons attack outside Damascus.
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