Syria: air attacks loom as Britain and US pledge to use force within two weeks

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Western countries, including Britain, are planning to take unilateral military action against the Assad regime within two weeks in retaliation for its alleged use of chemical weapons on civilians in Syria.

David Cameron discussed launching missile strikes against key regime targets during a 40-minute telephone call with President Barack Obama on Saturday night and also with the French President François Hollande on Sunyda. While Downing Street said Western powers had not ruled out seeking UN endorsement for military action they added that they were also prepared to unilaterally.

“We cannot in the 21st century allow the idea that chemical weapons can be used with impunity and there are no consequences,” the Foreign Secretary William Hague said. A Downing Street source added: “We intend to show that an attack of this nature will not pass without a serious response.”

Mr Cameron is expected to cut short his holiday in Cornwall and return to London to chair a meeting of the Government’s National Security Council tomorrow.  Downing Street said that the Prime Minister was also considering the recall of Parliament but added that it “all depends upon the timing”. Labour said it would expect” a recall “in advance of any decision being made”.

Any military action is likely to take the form of missile strikes from American naval forces in the region, which were ordered to move closer to Syria on Saturday.

Today, the new head of the UK armed forces General Sir Nick Houghton will meet with General Lloyd Austin, the US commander in the Middle East in Jordon. The pair are attending a pre-planned meeting of defence chiefs but are expected to discuss the planned action and possible targets “at the fringes” of the conference.

Government sources said it was too early to say whether British military personnel would take part in any of the attacks but would provide complete political support. “We are clear that there needs to be a serious response and our level of involvement is therefore clear on the political level,” they said. “On the military level it will be driven by operationally by what is needed.”

News of the planned attacks came on the day that Syria finally agreed to let UN inspectors visit the scene of the alleged chemical weapons attack, which the charity Médecins Sans Frontières said had killed around 350 people and left 3,600 needing treatment for “neurotoxic symptoms”.