Syria plans take hit

U.N., Britain urge caution as support for response slows

Britain and United Nations urge caution as United States prepares an armed response.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration’s preparations to punish Syria’s government for allegedly using illicit chemical weapons appeared to suffer a setbackWednesday when it failed to get United Nations approval for the use of force and British support was thrown into question.

The collapse of diplomatic efforts aimed at securing a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Syria was expected. The British impedimentwas not.

The developments came as President Barack Obama warned in a TV interview that chemical weapons “that can have devastating effects could be directed at us” and made clear he is considering limited military action against President Bashar Assad’s forces.

“I have no interest in any kind of open-ended conflict in Syria,” Obama said on PBS. “But we do have to make sure that when countries break international norms on weapons like chemical weapons that could threaten us, that they are held accountable.”

How soon such strikes might occur was unclear after British Prime Minister David Cameron, who has repeatedly called for strong action on Syria, was unable to muster enough support from lawmakers to push ahead with a vote to approve military intervention.

Members of Parliament from his Conservative Party and the opposition Labour Party insisted that a vote be delayed until U.N. chemical experts in Syria issue a report.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said the U.N. team needs to complete its work. “It is essential to establish the facts,” he said.

On Wednesday, the U.N. team visited the eastern Ghouta region northeast of Damascus, the zone that apparently was hardest hit with poison gas before dawn Aug. 21.

U.S. officials, who have argued that there is already conclusive proof of Syria culpability, sought to avoid an extension of a probe that they appear to fear could be a delaying tactic.

Marie Harf, a State Department spokeswoman, said the administration will not allow the Syrians to “hide behind a U.N. investigation into the use of chemical weapons to prevent any response from the United States.”

In London, lawmakers will consider a weaker motion Thursday that deplores the use of chemical weapons and says that a humanitarian response might require “military action that is legal, proportionate and focused on saving lives by preventing and deterring further use of Syria’s chemicalweapons.”

It will also say that “every effort” should be made to win a U.N. blessing for any military response.

Russia, which is Assad’s primary international supporter, made clearWednesday that it will not support any Security Council move to censure Syria or sanction military action.

At the U.N., in a meeting of the five permanent members of the Security Council, British representatives had proposed a resolution condemning Syria’s use of banned chemical agents and called for “all necessary measures” to respond to it.

But Russia killed the proposal and foreclosed any further discussion, diplomats said.

Harf said U.S. officials would consult other countries about possible military action as well as other options and “will take appropriate actions to respond in the days ahead.”

The White House got a vote of support from the 28-member NATO, the key Western military alliance.

After a meeting of the group’s policymaking arm, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in Brussels that the suspected use of poison gas “cannot go unanswered. Those responsible must be held accountable.”

His statement didn’t commit NATO to joining a military operation but gave its blessing if one is launched, said George Benitez, an analyst with the Atlantic Council of the United States and editor of the NATOsource blog. “They’re saying: ‘We support what you’re going to do.’ ”

The United States appears likely to have support from France, Britain, Turkey and at least four Persian Gulf states.

The Arab League voted Tuesday to condemn Syria’s poison gas use, but it stopped short of blessing military action.

On Capitol Hill, House Speaker John Boehner, ROhio, said White House outreach to Congress “has, to date, not reached the level of substantive consultation.”

His office sent the administration a list of questions about potential U.S. entanglement in Syria, including whether Congress would be asked to appropriate more money should a military operation drag on.

Senior administration officials are set to brief congressional leaders Thursday, Reuters reported.

MOLHEM BARAKAT/REUTERS PHOTO A Free Syrian Army fighter peers through a hole as he takes coverWednesday in a building near the airport in Aleppo, Syria. The civil war has raged for more than two years.