Syria Crisis: US May Act Without Allied Support

Syria: Russia 'To Send Ships To Mediterranean'

Updated: 9:08pm UK, Thursday 29 August 2013

Russia and the US have sent further warships to boost their military capacity in the Mediterannean as expectations grow of an imminent strike on Syria.

Syria's ally Russia is sending an anti-submarine ship and a missile cruiser to the Mediterranean, according to Russian news agency Interfax.

An armed forces source reportedly said the planned deployment was in response to the "well-known situation" - a clear reference to the conflict in Syria.

The navy has denied the deployment is linked to events in Syria, saying it is part of a planned rotation of its ships in the Mediterranean.

In the US, a defence official has said a fifth destroyer, the USS Stout,  has been deployed to the Mediterranean and is "heading and moving east".

The guided missile destroyer is due to relieve the Mahan, but both ships might remain in place for the time being, the official said.

Other destroyers in the region - the Ramage, the Barry and the Gravely - criss-cross the Mediterranean and could launch their Tomahawk missiles toward Syria if so directed by US President Barack Obama.

As military action inched closer, Syrian President Bashar al Assad's forces removed several Scud missiles and dozens of launchers from a base north of Damascus, possibly to protect them from bombardment, opposition sources claimed.

The White House said it is on track to release an unclassified intelligence report on Syria this week, although the information is not a "slam-dunk" that will make an open and shut case for military action.

A spokesman added that what the US is contemplating in terms of its response is "very discrete and limited".

Russia and the US have taken part in an "urgent" meeting of the five permanent UN Security Council members in New York - the second such meeting in two days.

Russia is strongly against any military intervention in Syria, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov believing it would seriously destabilise the region.

Mr Lavrov has said any attack without UN Security Council approval would be a "crude violation" of international law.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin has spoken to German leader Angela Merkel by phone, with the pair agreeing the Syrian conflict can be solved politically, the chancellor's spokesman said.

"The chancellor called on the Russian president to use negotiations in the UN Security Council for a quick, unanimous international reaction," he added.

Public opinion in Germany is overwhelmingly against military action in Syria, less than four weeks before an election in which Mrs Merkel hopes to win a third term.

The warship reports come after US President Barack Obama said the US had studied evidence and concluded that the Syrian government was behind the alleged attack.

Mr Obama said any strike would be to "send a shot across the bow" and give a "pretty strong signal that [Syria] better not do it again".

He added the US had not yet made a firm decision about how to respond, but that it could take action even without the backing of allies or the United Nations.

The president's national security adviser Susan Rice, intelligence director James Clapper, defence secretary Chuck Hagel and secretary of state John Kerry are to brief Congress on Syria later, according to Reuters.

Questions are said to remain about who actually controls some of Syria's chemical weapons and whether President Assad himself explicitly ordered the alleged attack.

Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta told state radio that his country condemned the Assad regime but would not join any military operation without UN Security Council authorisation.

The Syrian leader was shown meeting Yemeni politicians on state television on Thursday.

It quoted President Assad as saying the country would defend itself in the face of any aggression.

A draft resolution by the UK on authorising a strike failed to win the approval of the UN Security Council on Wednesday as Russia reiterated its objections.

China has also entered the discussion and warned the West against any military action. 

"China calls on all parties to exercise restraint and remain calm and to remain committed to the correct track of political solutions," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.

British involvement in any strike will be debated today by politicians in the House of Commons.

Meanwhile, United Nations weapons inspectors set out on Thursday morning for the Damascus suburbs in a third day of investigations.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has pleaded for all sides to hold off on any military strikes.

He said his inspection team would soon finish its investigation, leaving Syria on Friday and reporting their findings to him the following day.

Samples they have collected will go to labs around Europe for testing, AP reported.

Last week's alleged chemical attack is claimed to have killed 1,300 people.

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Syria: UK Will Not Take Part In Military Action

David Cameron has been forced to rule out military action against Syria after a shock Commons defeat dealt a major blow to his authority.

A Government motion calling for a strong humanitarian response which may have included military strikes was narrowly rejected by 272 votes to 285.

Thirty Tory rebels and nine Liberal Democrats joined with Labour to inflict a humiliating defeat on the Prime Minister.

After the historic vote, Mr Cameron said: "I strongly believe in the need for a tough response to the use of chemical weapons but I also believe in respecting the will of this House of Commons.

"It is clear to me the British Parliament does not want to see British military action. I get that and the Government will act accordingly."

Labour leader Ed Miliband accused the Prime Minister of trying to "bypass the United Nations" and claimed MPs had reacted to his "cavalier and reckless" leadership.

He insisted there would have been nothing worse for the world than Britain pursuing "ill-thought through action" which lacked international support.

But Tory high command was furious. Education Secretary Michael Gove was heard shouting "disgrace, you're a disgrace" at Conservative and Liberal Democrat rebels following the vote.

The Scottish National Party's Westminster leader Angus Robertson told Sky News he watched as the minister had to be "persuaded to calm down".

The result will dismay allies in Washington and elsewhere seeking a wide coalition of support for air strikes to punish the Assad regime.

Anti-war protesters outside Parliament during the debate

Caitlin Hayden, Barack Obama's national security council spokeswoman, said the US would continue to consult with Britain, "one of our closest allies and friends".

The president's decisions would be based on "the best interests of the United States", she added - raising speculation that the US may launch unilateral military action within days.

"He believes that there are core interests at stake for the US and that countries who violate international norms regarding chemical weapons need to be held accountable," she said.

Conservative rebel MP Adam Holloway said: "I feel sorry for David Cameron personally because I know the guy is very sincere on this.

"To me what matters here is not so much the arithmetic of the vote but that it is much less likely now that we won't be intervening in a horrible civil war that is fast becoming a regional conflict. Outrage isn't a strategy."

General Lord Dannatt, former head of the British Army, described the vote as a "victory for common sense" and said the "drumbeat for war" had dwindled among the British public in recent days.

In the Commons, Mr Cameron promised he would not use the Royal prerogative to order the UK to be part of military action before another vote.

There were claims that a number of ministers had not taken part in the vote because they were involved in meetings and failed to hear the division bell.

UN inspectors investigating the attack this week

Sky's Adam Boulton said: "It's a major embarrassment (for David Cameron). His authority and judgement are going to be called severely into question."

The Prime Minister had already been forced to water down his position by Labour and promise direct British involvement would require a second vote.

A Labour amendment calling for military action only after UN inspectors reported and the Security Council had voted was rejected shortly before Mr Cameron lost the main vote.

Earlier, he made a passionate plea for MPs' support for military action, calling last week's chemical weapons attack in Damascus "abhorrent".

He admitted it was not possible to be 100% certain the Assad regime was behind the atrocity but said he had been convinced by the evidence available.

The "sickening human suffering" it had caused could not be ignored, he insisted, while also seeking to reassure MPs "this is not like Iraq" in 2003.

He warned "decades of painstaking work" would be undone if there was no international action.

"The global consensus against the use of chemical weapons will be fatally unravelled, a 100-year taboo would be breached," he warned.

UN weapons inspectors are due to finish their work on Friday and will report directly to UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon within 24 hours.

But their conclusions will not apportion blame - they will only set out the evidence on whether a chemical attack happened or not.

UN weapons experts are escorted to the site of the alleged gas attack

Permanent members of the UN Security Council - the UK, America, France, Russia and China - met for an hour to discuss the situation on Thursday.

The UK has tabled a draft resolution seeking approval for military action.

But Moscow, a key ally of Assad, is opposed to any military intervention and with China has vetoed all previous attempts to secure resolutions critical of the regime.

Syrian President Bashar al Assad has vowed the country would "defend itself in the face of any aggression".

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Syria: MPs Hold Debate As PM Drops Vote

By Jon Craig, Chief Political Correspondent

David Cameron has ducked a Commons confrontation with opponents of military action against Syria today by dropping plans for a Commons vote on backing British involvement.

Bowing to pressure from Labour and rebel Tory MPs after recalling Parliament, the Prime Minister has instead promised MPs a second Commons vote before Britain supports military action.

The retreat came after warnings by Government business managers that the Prime Minister simply didn't have the numbers to defeat opponents of military action in tonight's vote at 10pm.

It also comes as Barack Obama directly blamed the Syrian government for a chemical attack in Damascus, saying a strike would teach the regime "that it better not do it again".

In another significant development, China entered the discussion warning the West against any military action.  

Police guard the entrance to Downing Street during a rally against action

"China calls on all parties to exercise restraint and remain calm and to remain committed to the correct track of political solutions," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.

After a meeting of the Cabinet in Downing Street this morning, Mr Cameron will make his case for military intervention in Syria at the outset of of an eight-hour debate in the Commons.

Legal advice on taking military action in Syria will be published later this morning, Downing Street indicated.

Mr Cameron recalled Parliament earlier this week following an international outcry over the use of chemical weapons in an attack on Syrian civilians on the outskirts of Damascus last week.

The recall came after the Prime Minister was forced to promise MPs not just a debate but also a vote ahead of any British involvement in attacks on President's Assad's regime.

UN weapons inspectors are continuing to collect and analyse evidence

But today he will face accusations of a U-turn, after a climbdown which appeared to be prompted by a Labour threat to vote against the Government.

Labour published an amendment rejecting backing for military action until UN weapons inspectors have reported and said its MPs would oppose the Government motion if its amendment was defeated.

The Government's motion, published an hour after Labour's amendment, calls for efforts to secure a United Nations Security Council resolution and more time for UN weapons inspectors, both demanded by Labour, before military intervention.

But then the motion says: "Before any direct British involvement in such action, a further vote of the House of Commons will take place."

Defending the Government climbdown, Foreign Secretary William Hague accepted that the Government had made "an effort to accommodate the concerns and questions of other parties" in its motion.

David Cameron has been forced to retreat over a vote on urgent action

He said the motion "reflects the deep concerns in this country about what happened in Iraq" and stressed the Government's desire for a "consensual" approach.

"We are determined to take action against war crimes, against crimes against humanity and that is what the use of chemical weapons constitutes, but that we will also proceed as far as possible on a consensual basis," he said.

"That is why we have been talking to the Opposition in this country, as well as of course within the coalition, over the last couple of days.

"This motion that we are putting to the House of Commons tomorrow endorses the Government's consistent approach that we must be prepared to take action against the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime, to deter the future use of chemical weapons.

"But it also reflects the desire to proceed on a consensual basis, if possible without votes that are on narrow majorities or on party lines, but to ensure that there is widespread support across the House of Commons and of course respect for the United Nations processes as well."

Free Syrian Army fighters cheer after seizing the town of Khanasir

Mr Hague said he hoped Parliament can "express its strong support for maintaining the prohibition on chemical weapons in the world but be prepared to take action on the basis of the maximum consent that can be achieved".

Asked if the Government had backed down in the face of Labour's opposition he said: "It's important to proceed on a consensual basis. This is a democratic country, this is a democratic Parliament and people throughout the world understand that.

"We are trying to take decisions on these matters in a way in which everybody's opinions are taken fully into account."

He added: "We are making every possible effort to make sure the British Parliament can unite.

"So have we made an effort here to accommodate the concerns and questions of other parties? Yes, we have. But I think we should regard that as something positive in such a difficult situation."

A senior No 10 source said: "This is obviously a fluid and fast-moving situation. The Prime Minister has been trying to be consensual all along. This motion is designed to be consensual.

"This country is bruised by what happened over Iraq. We want to be clear about what we think needs to be done but it needs to be done on a consensual basis."

But Tory Andrew Bridgen, MP for North West Leicestershire, said: "Across the House there is a great concern about our further involvement in this crisis."

He added that "a watered-down motion is better than a defeat for the Government" and added that he had supported the Labour stance that "we should have evidence before we have action".

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Syria Gas Attack: 'My Eyes Were On Fire'

Survivors have described the horrific aftermath of the "gas attack" in Syria in a series of chilling interviews from Damascus.

Victims told how a gas with "a faint green colour" stung their eyes "like needles", causing their legs to buckle and making their bodies convulse in pain.

One told how he regained consciousness after succumbing to the gas, seeing wild hallucinations "like Alice in Wonderland" with his "eyes on fire".

Others described how they saw hundreds of suffocating, twitching victims in the streets and in hospitals following a barrage of "whistling" rockets.

Girls who survived rest in a mosque in Damascus

In several interviews, released by the Associated Press news agency, witnesses told how the rockets made a "strange noise", never heard before.

The rocket assaults came around the same time on two suburbs on opposite sides of the capital: Moadamiyeh to the west and several districts to the east.

Ammar, a resident who said he miraculously survived the barrage on Moadamiyeh, where 80 people were killed, said he was awakened by shelling around 5am. 

He said he heard a screeching sound, followed by the sound of people screaming on Rawda street below his apartment - and saw the green gas.

A boy who survived and took cover in a Damascus mosque

"I ran out to see what was going on and saw people in various stages of suffocation and convulsions. I tried to help, but then my legs buckled and I fell to the ground," he said.

Ammar woke up at a makeshift hospital, where he said he spent five days getting oxygen and injections of atropine, which counteracts the effects of nerve gases.

A week later, Ammar said he has not fully recovered. He suffers bouts of cold sweats, exhaustion, hallucinations and a runny nose.

Worst of all, he said, were the nightmares.

"I can't sleep anymore. I keep seeing the people who died, the scenes from the hospital of people twitching and foaming. I can never forget that," said Ammar, 30.

A child victim of the attack

His father, who identified himself by his nickname, Abu Ammar, was at the nearby al-Rawda mosque waiting for dawn prayers when the first rockets hit.

He said some people ran outside and then came back in immediately, shouting: "Chemicals! Chemicals!"

He put water on a tissue and covered his mouth and nose, and then went out.

"I saw at least seven people lying on their backs, completely still," he said.

Qusai Zakarya said the rockets crashed with a strange whistle "like a siren".

Friends took him to the hospital, where he saw dozens of people crowding the rooms and corridors, many of them in their underwear.

Nurses and doctors doused them with water. That was when he fainted. When he came to, doctors were injecting him with atropine and he started vomiting.

"Strange colours came out of my stomach," the man said. He fainted again and later woke up in the street outside in his underwear, apparently moved out to make room for others.

Later, he felt well enough to go home and said he slept for 13 hours.

Many children fell ill after the assault

"When I woke up I felt like Alice in Wonderland," he said.

"Everything looked distorted and I couldn't remember anything.

"My eyes felt as if they were on fire, and every time I tried to smell something I felt terrible pain. My chest also ached," he said, his speech interrupted by a hacking cough.

To the east of Damascus, some 600 patients poured into a makeshift hospital in the district of Arbeen. Of those, 125 died, including 35 children.

Abu Akram said he was told by several medics that some people were found in their homes, with wet towels on their faces or hiding with their children in bathrooms.

"People didn't die in their sleep; they tried to save themselves," he said.

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Hackers: Pro-Assad Group Targets US Websites

Pro-Assad regime hackers claim to have targeted leading US media websites, shutting down the New York Times for 30 minutes.

The Syrian Electronic Army said it had hacked sites belonging to Twitter and the Huffington Post, making them unstable, as well as closing down the NYT.

The NYT attributed the meltdown to a "malicious external attack".

When users attempted to visit www.nytimes.com, the only message that appeared was "Hacked by the SEA".

Meanwhile, Twitter confirmed the hack saying "viewing of images and photos was sporadically impacted", but added that "no user information was affected".

The SEA boasted in a tweet: "Hi @Twitter, look at your domain, its owned by #SEA :)"  

The boasting tweet from the SEA hacking group

While the Twitter site continued to function as normal, the SEA claimed to have changed domain details, redirecting social media traffic to its own server.

The shadowy hacker collective has also claimed to have changed domain details belonging to the Huffington Post news site.

The latest attacks come weeks after the Twitter feed of the Associated Press news agency was targeted.

The feed falsely reported that Barack Obama was injured in an attack on the White House.

The Washington Post website was also hacked this month in an attack blamed on the same group.

The SEA infiltrates organisations it perceives to be aligned against the Assad government.

The string of cyber attacks comes as US leaders have publicly discussed the possibility of launching an attack against the Assad government.

The potential for military action comes amid claims Mr Assad deployed chemical weapons on the Syrian people, two years into the nation's civil war.

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Syria Crisis: Cameron Holds 'War Talks'

David Cameron will hold war talks at Downing Street today as military commanders draw up plans for missile strikes against Syria.

Mr Cameron will chair a meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) after insisting the West must not "stand idly by" in the wake of Syria's suspected chemical attack.

In talks by telephone last night with US President Barack Obama, the two leaders agreed that "all the information available confirmed a chemical weapons attack had taken place", said a Downing Street spokesperson.

"They both agreed they were in no doubt that the Assad regime was responsible," added the spokesperson.

David Cameron cut short his holiday to return for the talks

United Nations weapons inspectors set off on Wednesday morning to the site of the alleged attacks, a day after suspending their mission over safety concerns.

The inspectors came under sniper fire when they began their operation on Monday.

Foreign Secretary William Hague has ramped up the pressure to act on "barbarous" Syria by setting out the case for action in a national newspaper comment piece.

He maintained that "global security" was at stake and that the world "cannot allow the use of chemical weapons in the 21st century to go unchallenged". 

A UN weapons inspector visits wounded Syrians after the alleged gas attack

The NSC meeting is expected to discuss the intelligence gathered by United Nations inspectors from their visit to Mouadamiya, the site of last week's suspected chemical weapons attack that allegedly killed more than 1,300.

General Sir Nick Houghton, chief of the defence staff, is also expected to outline a series of options for targeted attacks against Syria at the meeting .

He will tell ministers the UK could assist US forces with cruise missile strikes launched from submarines, warships and aircraft against targets such as command and control bunkers.

Tomorrow, Parliament will be recalled for a final vote on what action should be taken.

Speaking yesterday, Mr Cameron said action must be "proportionate, have to be legal, would have to specifically be about deterring the use of chemical weapons".

A child is treated after the alleged chemcial attack

It is understood the most likely military response would be a one-off or limited guided missile strikes on Syrian military targets fired from US Navy warships.

The US Navy is repositioning several vessels, including four cruise missile-carrying destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean, as well as a missile-firing submarine.

Military experts suggested a British Trafalgar class submarine might also be a potential launch platform.

Mr Cameron said any intervention in Syria would not be about the conflict itself, but preventing the use of chemical weapons by any regime.

More than 1,300 are said to have died as the result of the alleged attack

Decisions about British involvement have not been taken, he said yesterday, adding Parliament was the "right place to set out all of the arguments".

"Obviously this is a developing situation, as I say, decisions have not been taken, but we shouldn't stand by when we see this massive use of chemical weapons and appalling levels of suffering," he said.

"But I would say this to people - there is never 100% certainty, there is never one piece or several pieces of intelligence that give you absolute certainty.

"But what we know is this regime has huge stocks of chemical weapons. We know they have used them on at least 10 occasions prior to this last widescale use.

"We know they have both the motive and the opportunity whereas the opposition does not have those things and the opposition's chance of having used chemical weapons in our view is vanishingly small."

A vast number of the victims were children

The NSC includes Defence Secretary Philip Hammond, Home Secretary Theresa May and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg among its members.

Labour leader Ed Miliband yesterday indicated that his party would consider supporting international action.

But he added that support was "only on the basis that it was legal, that it was specifically limited to deterring the future use of chemical weapons, and that any actions contemplated had clear and achievable goals."

And Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said Britain would "set a very dangerous precedent indeed" if it stood back and failed to act.

While political momentum towards intervention mounts, the British public has yet to be persuaded.

A YouGov survey for The Sun revealed that nearly three-quarters of people oppose the deployment of British troops to Syria.

And a majority of 3-1 believe the Government should be bound by Parliament's vote tomorrow.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has warned MPs not to rush in their decision on whether to vote for miltary intervention in the Syria conflict.

The Most Rev Justin Welby said he feared the possible consequences of intervention saying they were "beyond description and horrible".

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Legal Highs: Ban At Reading Leeds Festival

By Frazer Maude, North of England Correspondent

The parents of a man who died after taking a "legal high" drug have welcomed a decision by the organisers of a music festival to ban the products from their sites.

Christopher Scott, 23, from Swindon, died at the Great Western Hospital in July after taking the chemical marketed as AMT (alpha-Methyltryptamine).

His father Michael says the family are "so pleased" that promoters of the Leeds and Reading Festivals have banned the sale or use of legal highs at the events this weekend.

"Everybody knows illegal drugs - there's a big risk behind them - but as soon as you start saying 'oh it's a legal high' you get the misconception that it's okay," said Michael.

"They think it's not dangerous, it's legal, so it must be fine. And then they get the impression they can take as many as they want."

A photo of Christopher Scott at home of his family

Christopher was a father of three and only after his death did his family find out that his partner was pregnant with his fourth child.

The Government finds it hard to legislate against the drugs, as whenever one is banned the manufacturers only have to make slight changes to the chemical formula in order for the new compound to be legal again.

Former legal highs Mexxy and Black Mamba are now classified as Class B drugs, and are therefore illegal.

Sky News bought a number of the legal highs from a shop in the North of England, including AMT which Mr Scott took.

They are also freely available on the internet.

The websites, sales staff and the packaging of the chemicals all warn that these items are not for human consumption, but are for research purposes.

The drug has been banned at Leeds and Reading Festivals

Melvin Benn, organiser of the Leeds and Reading Festivals, said: "We were happy to fall in line with the Home Office request and not allow these legal highs to be sold on site.

"No one really knows what effects these things have, and of course people are still going to take them. But they won't be buying them from retailers at any of my festivals."

Mr Scott and his family used to make annual visits to the Reading Festival.

Although delighted that the festival has banned the drugs, Mr Scott's father believes more needs to be done.

"The Government needs to really seriously rethink what it's doing with this concept of legal highs. Just the word 'legal' is making everyone think it's ok to do it, that it's fine. It's not," he said.

"I'm never going get my son back. I only had one son and I'm never going to get him back."

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