• US weighs up next move as UN team now in Lebanon
• Russia says any threats of force unacceptable
• Two-thirds of French people oppose intervention, says poll
UN experts left Syria on Saturday after investigating a poison gas attack that killed hundreds of civilians, and the US said it was planning a limited response to punish Syria's President Bashar al-Assad for the "brutal and flagrant" assault.
Barack Obama said the US, which has five cruise-missile equipped destroyers in the region, was in the planning process for a "limited, narrow" military action that would not involve boots on the ground or be open-ended.
Russia responded by saying US threats to use military force against Syria were unacceptable and that Washington would be violating international law if it acted without the approval of the U.N. Security Council.
Meawhile, most French people do not want its country to take part in military action on Syria, and most do not trust President François Hollande to do so, a poll showed on Saturday.
The BVA poll released by Le Parisien-Aujourd'hui en France, showed 64% of respondents opposed military action, 58% did not trust Hollande to conduct it, and 35% feared it could "set the entire region (Middle East) ablaze".
Russia, an ally of Assad's, opposes any military intervention in Syria, warning an attack would increase tensions and undermine the chances of ending the civil war. "Washington statements with threats to use force against Syria are unacceptable," Russian foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement late in Friday.
"Any unilateral use of force without the authorisation of the UN security council, no matter how 'limited' it is, will be a clear violation of international law, will undermine prospects for a political and diplomatic resolution of the conflict in Syria and will lead to a new round of confrontation and new casualties."
Lukashevich also said that Washington's threats were made "in the absence of any proof" of the Syrian government using chemical weapons.
In a sign the US may be preparing to act, the secretary of state, John Kerry, spoke on Friday to the foreign ministers of key European and Gulf allies, as well as the head of the Arab League, a senior state department official said.
The team of UN experts arrived at Beirut international airport on Saturday, after crossing the land border from Syria into Lebanon by foot earlier in the day.
The 20-member team, including experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, have been into the rebel-held areas in the Ghouta suburb of Damascus three times, taking blood and tissue samples from victims. They also took samples of soil, clothing and rocket fragments. They will be sent to laboratories in Europe, most likely Sweden or Finland, for analysis. The experts have already been testing for sarin, mustard gas or other toxic agents.
The analysis should establish if a chemical attack took place but not who was responsible for the 21 August attack on a Damascus suburb. Final results might not be ready for two weeks, the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, told security council members, according to diplomats.
In France, Hollande said Britain's parliamentary vote against military strikes would not affect France's own actions.
Two other opinion polls published this week, and carried out after the gas attack, indicated lukewarm support among French voters for military intervention in Syria.
Hollande, whose popularity has been hurt by economic gloom, showed unexpected military mettle when he dispatched troops to help Mali's government fend off Islamist rebels earlier this year, an intervention backed by two-thirds of the public. Reported by guardian.co.uk 10 hours ago.
• Russia says any threats of force unacceptable
• Two-thirds of French people oppose intervention, says poll
UN experts left Syria on Saturday after investigating a poison gas attack that killed hundreds of civilians, and the US said it was planning a limited response to punish Syria's President Bashar al-Assad for the "brutal and flagrant" assault.
Barack Obama said the US, which has five cruise-missile equipped destroyers in the region, was in the planning process for a "limited, narrow" military action that would not involve boots on the ground or be open-ended.
Russia responded by saying US threats to use military force against Syria were unacceptable and that Washington would be violating international law if it acted without the approval of the U.N. Security Council.
Meawhile, most French people do not want its country to take part in military action on Syria, and most do not trust President François Hollande to do so, a poll showed on Saturday.
The BVA poll released by Le Parisien-Aujourd'hui en France, showed 64% of respondents opposed military action, 58% did not trust Hollande to conduct it, and 35% feared it could "set the entire region (Middle East) ablaze".
Russia, an ally of Assad's, opposes any military intervention in Syria, warning an attack would increase tensions and undermine the chances of ending the civil war. "Washington statements with threats to use force against Syria are unacceptable," Russian foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement late in Friday.
"Any unilateral use of force without the authorisation of the UN security council, no matter how 'limited' it is, will be a clear violation of international law, will undermine prospects for a political and diplomatic resolution of the conflict in Syria and will lead to a new round of confrontation and new casualties."
Lukashevich also said that Washington's threats were made "in the absence of any proof" of the Syrian government using chemical weapons.
In a sign the US may be preparing to act, the secretary of state, John Kerry, spoke on Friday to the foreign ministers of key European and Gulf allies, as well as the head of the Arab League, a senior state department official said.
The team of UN experts arrived at Beirut international airport on Saturday, after crossing the land border from Syria into Lebanon by foot earlier in the day.
The 20-member team, including experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, have been into the rebel-held areas in the Ghouta suburb of Damascus three times, taking blood and tissue samples from victims. They also took samples of soil, clothing and rocket fragments. They will be sent to laboratories in Europe, most likely Sweden or Finland, for analysis. The experts have already been testing for sarin, mustard gas or other toxic agents.
The analysis should establish if a chemical attack took place but not who was responsible for the 21 August attack on a Damascus suburb. Final results might not be ready for two weeks, the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, told security council members, according to diplomats.
In France, Hollande said Britain's parliamentary vote against military strikes would not affect France's own actions.
Two other opinion polls published this week, and carried out after the gas attack, indicated lukewarm support among French voters for military intervention in Syria.
Hollande, whose popularity has been hurt by economic gloom, showed unexpected military mettle when he dispatched troops to help Mali's government fend off Islamist rebels earlier this year, an intervention backed by two-thirds of the public. Reported by guardian.co.uk 10 hours ago.