French President Francois Hollande gave a boost yesterday to US plans to forge an international coalition for possible strikes against Syria after British lawmakers on Thursday rejected any involvement in military action.
The White House had signalled on Thursday that US President Barack Obama, guided by the “best interests” of the US, was ready to go it alone on Syria after deadly chemical weapons attacks last week.
However, Russia, the Syrian regime’s most powerful ally, questioned US intelligence on the gas attacks and warned any military strikes without UN backing would deal a serious blow to “world order.”
Photo: AFP
In Damascus, UN experts began a final day of investigations into the attacks, visiting an army hospital where victims were reportedly being treated.
The team is due to leave the war-battered country today and report back immediately to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has appealed to the West to allow time for their findings to be assessed.
Faced with an impasse at the UN Security Council and the British parliament’s shock rejection of any punitive action against Damascus, the US has been forced to look elsewhere for international partners.
While Germany and Canada ruled out joining any military strikes, Hollande — whose country was a strident opponent of the US-led war on Iraq — said the British vote would not affect his government’s stance.
“France wants firm and proportionate action against the Damascus regime,” Hollande said in an interview with Le Monde newspaper.
US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said that despite the British vote, the White House was still seeking an “international coalition that will act together” against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
“We are continuing to consult with the British as with all of our allies. That consultation includes ways forward together on a response to this chemical weapons attack in Syria,” he said in the Philippines.
The British government’s defeat in parliament — by just 13 votes — came after the failure of an 11th-hour effort by British diplomats to win UN backing for action at a meeting of the permanent members of the Security Council.
“It is clear to me that the British parliament, reflecting the views of the British people, does not want to see British military action. I get that and the government will act accordingly,” British Prime Minister David Cameron said.
Gruesome pictures of some of the several hundred reported victims of the Aug. 21 attacks, including children, shocked the world and piled on the pressure for a response that could draw a reluctant West into the Syrian civil war.
However, Russia and fellow Syria ally Iran have warned against any intervention, saying it risked sparking a wider conflict in the already volatile Middle East.
The divisions over Syria have further chilled the frosty relations between Washington and Moscow ahead of the G20 summit next week in St Petersburg, where pointedly there will be no face-to-face talks between Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
US National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said Obama’s decision-making “will be guided by what is in the best interests of the United States.”
“He 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,” she said.
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