ABC NEWS
Updated Wed 28 Aug 2013, 4:56pm AEST
Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr has left open the possibility of an international military response to the Syrian crisis without a mandate from the United Nations.
The United States and its allies are gearing up for a probable military strike against the Syrian regime within days.
Last week, a deadly chemical weapons attack killed hundreds of people in the Syrian capital Damascus
Western powers have told the Syrian opposition to expect military action against Mr Assad's forces soon, according to sources who attended a meeting between envoys and the Syrian National Coalition in Istanbul.
Senator Carr says as the evidence accumulates that Syrian government forces were behind the attack, the regime must be "made to pay a price".
Australia assumes the presidency of the UN Security Council this Sunday for the next month - a period during which the situation in Syria is expected to dominate its deliberations.
"As the evidence accumulates that this chemical weapons attack did take place and came from the Assad forces, of course we're moving to a stage where America and like-minded countries are contemplating what sort of a response," Senator Carr said.
He says "everyone's preference" would be for action under UN auspices, but says if that proves impossible, it would not preclude a response.
"The sheer horror of a Government using chemical weapons against its people, using chemical weapons in any circumstances mandates a response," he said.
Senator Carr says America is "weighing very, very carefully" its plan to demonstrate international anger at the chemical weapons attack.
"There are risks and there are expenses and America, the White House and the Pentagon would be weighing those very, very carefully," he said.
"I want to praise the Obama Administration for being careful about its response. I think that gives the world some assurance that when the response comes it will have been thought through."
How do you think the international community should respond to the allegations of chemical weapons use? What about Australia?
US defence secretary Chuck Hagel says American forces in the region are "ready to go" if president Barack Obama gives the order.
Mr Hagel says intelligence agencies are assembling what is sure to be final confirmation of the Syrian government's culpability for last Wednesday's gas attack, which occurred in a suburb of Damascus held by rebels fighting to oust Mr Assad.
Opposition activists have said at least 500 people, and possibly as many as 1,300, were killed by rockets carrying the nerve gas sarin or something similar.
If so, it was the worst chemical weapons attack since Saddam Hussein gassed thousands of Iraqi Kurds in 1988.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said it would be "fanciful" to think that anyone other than Mr Assad's forces were responsible for the chemical attack.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says he is now confident the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons.
Mr Rudd says he has formed the view after talks with Mr Obama and UK prime minister David Cameron.
The Prime Minister says he has also consulted other regional leaders, including the Indonesian president, to test regional responses to the crisis.
Mr Rudd says what the world has witnessed in Syria is tantamount to a crime against humanity.
"The Australian Government, after consultation with our allies, has formed a view that there is overwhelming evidence that chemical weapons have been used in this attack, and furthermore, that we have high confidence that the regime in Syria is responsible for these attacks," Mr Rudd said.
Obama yet to make final decision
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.
He insisted, however, that Washington was not intent on "regime change," signalling that any military strikes would be limited and not meant to topple Mr Assad.
Vice-president Joe Biden said the Assad regime must be held accountable for the "heinous" act.
"There is no doubt who is responsible for this heinous use of chemical weapons in Syria: the Syrian regime," Mr Biden said in a speech to the American Legion, a veterans' group, in Houston.
"Those who use chemical weapons against defenceless men, women and children should and must be held accountable."
The British military is also drafting plans.
Prime minister David Cameron, anxious like Mr Obama not to emulate the entanglements in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that beset their predecessors, said any strikes would be "specific" so as not to drag the allies deeper into the Syrian civil war now in its third year.
Mr Cameron recalled parliament for a debate on Syria on Thursday.
UN team to conduct further inspections today
United Nations chemical weapons investigators put off until today a second trip to the rebel-held suburbs of Damascus, where activists say hundreds of civilians died a week ago.
While evidence of chemical warfare could bolster an argument for intervention at the UN in the face of likely Russian and Chinese opposition, Western leaders and the Arab League have already declared Mr Assad guilty.
Ahmad Jarba, president of the rebel Syrian National Coalition, met envoys from 11 countries at an Istanbul hotel, including the US ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford.
The rebel leaders proposed targets for cruise missiles and bombing.
"The opposition was told in clear terms that action to deter further use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime could come as early as in the next few days," one participant said.
Planning appears to focus on missile or air strikes. There is little public support in Western countries for troops to invade Syria.
"We have moved assets in place to be able to fulfil and comply with whatever option the president wishes to take," Mr Hagel said.
The precise timing of possible military action remains unclear, but it is certain to wait for an official US intelligence report blaming Assad's government for the chemical attack.
The findings, considered merely a formality at this point, will be released this week, US officials said.
Under growing pressure for US action on Syria, Mr Obama is expected to keep close watch on the situation but will go ahead with a speech on Wednesday at Washington's Lincoln Memorial, marking the 50th anniversary of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr's "I have a dream" speech.
Residents of Damascus growing anxious
Syria's government, backed by Iran, denies gassing its own people and has vowed to defend itself, but residents of Damascus are growing anxious.
"I've always been a supporter of foreign intervention, but now that it seems like a reality, I've been worrying that my family could be hurt or killed," said a woman named Zaina, who opposes Mr Assad.
"I'm afraid of a military strike now."
Ziyad, a man in his 50s, added: "The big fear is that they'll make the same mistakes they made in Libya and Iraq.
"They'll hit civilian targets and then they'll cry that it was by mistake, but we'll get killed in the thousands."
Russia, Assad's main arms supplier, opposes military action and has suggested that rebel forces may have released the poison gas.
China's state news agency recalled how flawed intelligence was used to justify the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Firm opposition from permanent members of the UN Security Council all but rules out a mandate of the kind that gave legal backing to NATO air strikes that helped Libyan rebels unseat Moamar Gaddafi two years ago.
However, Western officials say they do want to act within international law.
I've always been a supporter of foreign intervention, but now that it seems like a reality, I've been worrying that my family could be hurt or killed.
Damascus resident Zaina
Moscow and Beijing accuse Western powers of using human rights complaints, such as in Libya, to meddle in sovereign states' affairs.
Syrian foreign minister Walid al-Moualem said US strikes would help Al Qaeda and called Western leaders "delusional" if they hoped to help the rebels reach a balance of power in Syria.
"We have means of defending ourselves, and we will surprise them with these if necessary," he said.
"We will defend ourselves. We will not hesitate to use any means available."
Read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-28/us2c-allies-gearing-up-for-probable-strike-on-syria/4917286
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