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France - Syria

West mulls military action over alleged Syrian chemical attack

The West will soon decide on a response to last week’s alleged chemical attack in Syria, says French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, as western powers consider the possibility of military action against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. 

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius says Western action on Syria would be decided in the coming days.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius says Western action on Syria would be decided in the coming days. Reuters/Stéphane Mahé
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“The options are open. The only option that I do not envisage is to do nothing,” Fabius told French radio, adding that any action would be decided in the coming days.

The comments came as a team of United Nations inspectors head to Ghouta, east of Damascus, where the allege attack took place last week. Syrian authorities approved the inspection on Sunday, but US officials said it was too little, too late, arguing that persistent shelling in recent days had “corrupted” the site.

France, the United States, Britain and other western allies accused Assad’s regime of being behind the alleged attack, while the Syrian government pointed the finger at opposition rebel groups.

In an interview with a Russian newspaper published on Monday, Assad angrily denied the accusations as an “insult to common sense”, and said any military action was doomed to failure.

“The United States faces failure just like in all the previous wars they waged,” he said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the West has been unable to produce any proof that the Syrian government used chemical weapons.

"They [the West] have not been able to come up with any proof but are saying at the same time that the red line has been crossed and there can be no delay," Lavrov said, adding that calls for military action "contradicted" agreements from the G8 summit held in Northern Ireland in June.

Russia and China have previously blocked UN Security Council resolutions on the Syrian conflict.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the West could respond without the backing of the UN Security Council. When asked about the possibility of a military strike, he said: “I’m not going to rule anything in or out.”

Germany’s Foreign Minister, Guido Westerwelle, said his country would support “consequences”, but did not specify what that would entail.

A spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel also said he would “not speculate” on whether Germany would potentially join or support any military action.

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