Momentum Builds for Military Strike in Syria

The developments came as United Nations weapons inspectors in Syria postponed a second visit to suspected attack sites on the outskirts of the capital Damascus after having failed to secure assurances of their safety the United Nations and Syrian officials said.

Even without the evidence that the inspectors are collecting the United States and other Western powers have concluded that the Aug. 21 attack which killed hundreds of people was caused by banned chemical munitions and that President Bashar al Assad s forces were responsible crossing a threshold that required a forceful response.

Chuck Hagel the United States secretary of defense said in an interview with the BBC that American forces had moved assets in place to be able to fulfill and comply with whatever option the president wishes to take. Asked how soon these forces could be ready Mr. Hagel said We are ready to go.

Mr. Hagel would not specify the type of action envisioned but Obama administration officials have suggested that any military response would be limited cruise missiles launched from American warships in the Mediterranean that would strike specific Syrian military targets for example and not a sustained bombing campaign intended to topple Mr. Assad who is seeking to defeat an insurgency well into its third year.

The White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters in Washington there was no doubt Mr. Assad s side was responsible and that the only debate was over the proper response. We believe that a careful review of the facts leads to the conclusion that the regime was behind this Mr. Carney said.

In coming days Mr. Carney said the White House would provide further evidence drawn from American intelligence on the Syrian government s culpability. But he said President Obama had still not made a decision on military action.

In Britain Prime Minister David Cameron who cut short his vacation said Parliament would be recalled early from its summer recess to deal with the Syrian crisis. British media said fighter aircraft had been dispatched to Cyprus where Britain maintains an air base that could be used as a launching area against Syria 100 miles away.

Mr. Cameron told the BBC that Mr. Assad s side was responsible for a massive use of chemical weapons called it morally indefensible and said that the world could not stand idly by.

President Fran ois Hollande of France said that everything leads us to believe that it is the Syrian regime that committed this abject act and said France would now seek to establish the most appropriate retaliation.

The chemical massacre in Damascus cannot go without a response Mr. Hollande said in an address to an annual meeting of French ambassadors at the presidential palace in Paris. France is prepared to punish those who took the vile decision to gas innocent people. He gave no specifics however.

Previously French officials had said firmly that France would not act militarily without an authorizing resolution from the United Nations Security Council which seems doubtful because of Russian and Chinese opposition.

Mr. Cameron said no decision had been made about military action but it would have to be proportionate and legal. He too did not define what the legal basis would be for military intervention. He said that any military response would be limited to the effort to deter and degrade the further use of chemical weapons.

The British deputy prime minister Nick Clegg told reporters that we re not considering an open ended military intervention with boots on the ground like we saw in Iraq which his Liberal Democrats had criticized or regime change. He added This is about taking proportionate legal and carefully circumscribed steps so the world understands that we will not stand idly by when chemical weapons are used in complete breach of international law.

Alan Cowell and Steven Erlanger reported from London and Rick Gladstone from New York. Reporting was contributed by Mark Landler from Washington Scott Sayare from Paris Alison Smale from Berlin and David D. Kirkpatrick from Cairo.

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