UN meets over Syria gas outrage; Russia, China block action

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) held an emergency meeting in New York on Wednesday evening to discuss allegations that Syrian authorities had mounted a massive gas attack on rebels around Damascus, killing hundreds.

If confirmed, this would be the world's most lethal chemical weapons attack since 1988, when 3,000 to 5,000 Iraqi Kurds were gassed by Saddam Hussein's forces at Halabja.

Immediate international action is likely to be limited, with the divisions among major powers that have crippled efforts to quell two-and-a-half years of civil war still much in evidence.

Russia backed up denials from the administration of President Bashar al-Assad by saying it looked like a rebel "provocation" to discredit him. Russia and China - consistent allies of the Syrian government - reportedly blocked a formal resolution.

Others like France and the United Kingdom took the opposite view. Hours after the closed-door Security Council meeting, French foreign minister Laurent Fabius told a TV channel that "a reaction of force must be taken" if the allegations are true.

"If the UN Security Council cannot do it, decisions will be made otherwise," Fabius said. But, he said, sending ground troops to Syria is out of question.

Britain too advocated a strong stand. "I hope this will wake up some who have supported the Assad regime to realise its murderous and barbaric nature," foreign secretary William Hague said on a visit to Paris.

The US reaction was more muted. ''We are calling for a UN investigation to be conducted,'' said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. ''This is a situation that is ongoing and our efforts to work with the international community and to work with the Syrian opposition to remove [President Bashar] Assad from power are ongoing.''

The US, along with some others, said it had no independent confirmation that chemical weapons had been used.

The relatively mild statement comes almost exactly a year after US President Barack Obama declared that the Syrian regime's use of chemical weapons would be a ''red line'' that would shift his thinking about that country's bloody civil war.

Britain, the United States and others called for an immediate on-site investigation by UN chemical weapons inspectors, who would arrived in the Syrian capital only this week.

UN President Ban Ki-moon said the head of the inspection team in Damascus was already discussing the latest claims with the government.

Moscow, urging an "objective" inquiry, said the very presence of that team suggested government forces were not to blame.