Military response to chemical weapons attack from west on table despite decision to allow inspectors in.
Syria has bowed to international pressure to allow UN investigators to travel to the scene of last week's chemical weapons attack in Damascus, allowing a forensic science team to visit the site on Monday. The green light for the UN inspection came almost five days after the attack and was immediately greeted with scepticism by western leaders and chemical weapons experts, who say it may now be too late for inspectors to gather useful scientific results.
A US official told reporters the move was "too late to be credible". This has added impetus to a mounting readiness for a military response to the attack, which is believed to have killed hundreds and has significantly increased the threat of intervention in Syria.
Tehran and Damascus on Sunday warned against any form of western response, which Syrian state television said would turn the region into a "ball of flame".
The US, Britain and France have been warning of a "serious response" to the attack, and steadily sharpened their rhetoric in the latter half of last week. They have been joined by Turkey and some Arab states in demanding access to the affected area in the east of the capital since it was hit with a barrage of rockets apparently containing a neurotoxin in the early hours of Wednesday.
UK was considering a range of military responses, including air strikes, the imposition of a no-fly zone and arming the rebels in Syria. It is understood that David Cameron is pressing for a response within a week or so. While air strikes remain on the table, the use of ground troops – "boots on the ground", has been ruled out by Britain.
Government sources insisted that Britain would only act in a lawful way, but the government does not believe that necessarily requires a UN security council resolution. Intervention could be justified legally on humanitarian grounds, or under international law relating to chemical weapons.
Russia warned the US against repeating past mistakes, saying unilateral military action in Syria would undermine efforts for peace and have a devastating impact on the security situation in the Middle East.
Activists and residents in the three areas targeted by the attack have gathered the remnants of numerous distinctively shaped rockets which are believed to have contained the neurotoxins. Many of the rockets are relatively intact, though their noses were buried deep in soil or bitumen, suggesting that they dispersed the chemicals above ground and did not explode on impact.
The affected areas have been bombed repeatedly over the past three days, with Syrian officials announcing they were continuing an advance into the rebel-held east of Damascus, an assault which started around the same time as residents first complained of exposure to a noxious gas.
De Bretton-Gordon said the large amount of nerve gas dropped and the tactics used pointed to the Syrian regime being responsible. He said scientists could still be able to determine the nerve agent used.
"Realistically, only the regime has access to that amount of agent," he said. "This appears to have been a very well-planned operation, from the conventional bombardment before to break all the doors and windows to allow the gas to move freely, to the use of 20 or so rockets [to deliver the gas] and then the army following up. It is a textbook operation."
Syrian offer on UN team 'too little, too late' | World news | The Guardian
