UK Security Council backs action on Syria

Britain's National Security Council has unanimously backed action against Syria in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack.

Prime Minister David Cameron said on his official Twitter feed that "the NSC agreed unanimously that the use of chemical weapons by Assad was unacceptable - and the world should not stand by".

Britain is to put a draft resolution to the UN Security Council today condemning attacks by President Bashar al-Assad and authorising "necessary measures" to protect civilians from chemical weapons.

"We've always said we want the UN Security Council to live up to its responsibilities on Syria. Today they have an opportunity to do that," Mr Cameron said.

Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said information from a variety of sources pointed to Mr Assad's forces being responsible for the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

Speaking after a meeting of NATO ambassadors in Brussels, Mr Rasmussen said any use of such weapons was "unacceptable and cannot go unanswered", although he did not suggest any response.

"This is a clear breach of long-standing international norms and practice... Those responsible must be held accountable," he said in a statement.

Mr Rasmussen said the military alliance would keep the situation in Syria under "close review".

Russia has said the UN Security Council should wait for inspectors to present their report on the alleged chemical weapons attack before considering a response.

Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov said: "It would be premature, at the least, to discuss any Security Council reaction until the UN inspectors working in Syria present their report."

UN investigators on the ground investigating attack

UN chemical weapons investigators crossed Syria's front line into rebel-held territory this morning for a second day of investigating the alleged poison gas attack.

Opponents of Mr Assad say his forces used rockets loaded with poison gas in the middle of a fierce offensive.

Activists have put the death toll between 500 and more than 1,000.

Mr Assad denies the charges.

Yesterday, the team had to postpone its planned visit to the suburb because of safety concerns.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the inspectors - who have completed today's site visit - need four days to conclude their investigation and time to analyse the findings.

"They are working very hard, under very, very dangerous circumstances," Mr Ban told a news conference in The Hague.

"Let them conclude their work for four days, and then we will have to analyse scientifically with experts and then I think we will have to report to the Security Council for any actions."

'Terrorists' helped by Western powers - Syria

Syria's deputy foreign minister said that the US, Britain and France helped "terrorists" use chemical weapons in Syria, and that the same groups would soon use them against Europe.

Speaking to reporters outside the Four Seasons hotel in Damascus, Faisal Maqdad said he had presented UN chemical weapons inspectors with evidence that "armed terrorist groups" had used sarin gas in all the sites of alleged attacks.

"We repeat that the terrorist groups are the ones that used (chemical weapons) with the help of the United States, the United Kingdom and France, and this has to stop," he said.

"This means these chemical weapons will soon be used by the same groups against the people of Europe," he added.

An al-Qaeda affiliate has threatened a "Volcano of Revenge" against Syrian government security and military targets in retaliation for the suspected poison attack near Damascus, the SITE Monitoring Group said.

A branch of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) said in a statement it would punish Syria for a series of massacres after meeting eight Syrian factions.

The United States is expected to release its own intelligence report into last Wednesday's incident in the coming days.

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei has said that US intervention in Syria would be a disaster.

"The intervention of America will be a disaster for the region. The region is like a gunpowder store and the future cannot be predicted," the ISNA state news agency quoted him as saying.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said it would "fanciful" to think that anyone other than Assad's forces was behind the large-scale chemical attack, which activists said killed hundreds of people as they slept.

Top US national security aides gathered to review the situation in a meeting chaired by Mr Obama's national security adviser Susan Rice, officials said.

Mr Obama has yet to make a final decision on the US response, Mr Carney said, but left little doubt that it would involve military action.

French President Francois Hollande has cited a 2005 UN provision for action to protect civilians from their own governments, which was inspired by the Rwandan genocide of 1994.

Footage of emotional reunion goes viral

Meanwhile, footage has emerged of what purports to be a Syrian father being reunited with his son, whom he thought had died in last week's attack.

The video, discovered by Max Fisher of The Washington Post, has gone viral after being posted on YouTube by Syrian activists on Monday.

According to reports, the video was recorded in the southwestern town of Zamalka in Damascus.

It has not been possible to independently verify the content.

Concern over Golan Heights mission 

A senior officer with the Irish Defence Forces has said there is a "degree of concern" over the deployment of 115 Irish troops on a UN mission to Syria, given the ongoing civil war in the country.

However, Commandant Denis Hanly said the mission the soldiers were deploying to in the Golan Heights was a mature mission, which was more closely connected to the fallout of the 1973 Yom Kippur war rather than the current internal conflict between rebels and the Assad regime.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he said the objective of the mission was to make sure that low-level conflict in the demilitarised zone does not spill out.

He declined to comment on the fact that Austria previously withdrew its troops from the UN mission.

However, he said that Ireland had considerable experience in international deployments, which diminished any risks associated with this mission.

He said Irish soldiers were prepared for chemical warfare attacks as part of their standard training.

The deploying troops will consist of a mix of 40 soldiers on their first trip overseas while the remainder have already completed two to three overseas tours.

The Irish Army has already had a reconnaissance team on the ground in the region for a week earlier this month.

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