British, US forces await executive order to attack Syria as diplomacy fails

Prime Minister David Cameron said MPs would vote on a “clear motion”, amid calls for action against the country’s government. Downing Street said David Cameron is considering a ‘proportionate response’ to the ‘absolutely abhorrent’ chemical weapons attack that killed up to 1,200 last week. American forces are also “ready” to launch strikes on Syria if […]

Prime Minister David Cameron said MPs would vote on a “clear motion”, amid calls for action against the country’s government. Downing Street said David Cameron is considering a ‘proportionate response’ to the ‘absolutely abhorrent’ chemical weapons attack that killed up to 1,200 last week. American forces are also “ready” to launch strikes on Syria if President Barack Obama chooses to order an attack, US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said yesterday.
“We have moved assets in place to be able to fulfil and comply with whatever option the president wishes to take,” Mr Hagel told newsmen. US Secretary of State John Kerry has said there was “undeniable” proof that Syria had used chemical weapons.
A decision on whether to fire missiles into Syria could be taken before the results of a report by UN weapons inspectors into the attack is produced, with a vote by British MPs expected tomorrow.
‘Any decision taken will be taken under a strict international framework. Any use of chemical weapons is completely and utterly abhorrent and unacceptable and the international community needs to respond to that,’ Mr Cameron’s official spokesman said.
Downing Street said all options were still on the table adding they wanted to ‘deter’ al-Assad from using more chemical weapons.
‘No decision has yet been taken. We are continuing to discuss with our international partners what the right response should be, but, as part of this, we are making contingency plans for the armed forces,’ the spokesman said. It came as former Prime Minister Tony Blair compared the violent Bashar al-Assad regime to the ‘dark days of Saddam’.
Mr Blair, who took Britain to war in Afghanistan and Iraq, said this morning that it is ‘time we took sides’. ‘People wince at the thought of intervention. But contemplate the future consequence of inaction and shudder,’ he wrote in The Times.
Syria’s allies, Russia and China, have stepped up their warnings against military intervention in Syria, with Moscow saying any such action would have “catastrophic consequences” for the region. Meanwhile Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said he rejected “utterly and completely” claims that Syrian forces had used chemical weapons.