Arab League for action on Syria as US seeks Congress nod

A day after US President Barack Obama said he would seek congressional approval to launch a punitive strike against Syria for last month's chemical attacks on alleged rebels by the Assad regime, Arab foreign ministers on Sunday urged the international community and the United Nations to take action against the Syrian government.

The final resolution of an Arab League (AL) meeting in Cairo urged the UN and the international community to assume their responsibilities in line with the UN charter and the international law by "taking deterrent and necessary measures against the Syrian regime".

The Arab foreign ministers held the Syrian government responsible for all the alleged chemical attacks in the Syrian capital of Damascus, and demanded the perpetrators be brought to fair international trials.

President Barack Obama has vowed punitive action but wants Congress to vote on the issue first. US lawmakers are due to reconvene next week, and White House officials have said they believe they will support the president.

Western intelligence agencies, including those of the US and UK, have found conclusive evidence of government involvement in the chemical attack, which left hundreds including women and children dead in their sleep.

Damascus, however, has vehemently rejected responsibility for the attacks, and accused "terrorists" of using chemical weapons on innocent civilians to obtain support from Western countries and to cover their defeats.

Syria today warned that any US military action against Syria would amount to "support for al-Qaeda and its affiliates."

Syrian deputy foreign minister Faisal Mekdad again told the BBC this morning that armed groups backed by America had used chemical weapons - not Syrian troops.

In the AL resolution, the foreign ministers strongly condemned and denounced the "heinous crime" committed by using the chemical weapons banned internationally against unarmed civilians, in defiance of the international norms.

The Arab foreign ministers said those responsible for unleashing the poison gas in Syria must be tried before an international court "like other war criminals."

They also called for "all forms of support needed by the Syrian people."

Saudi Arabia called on the world community to take all necessary steps to deter Syrian government violence.

"The time has come to call on the world community to bear its responsibility and take the deterrent measure that puts a halt to the tragedy," Saudi foreign minister Saud al-Faisal told the AL meeting.

It is time for the international community to do everything it could do to prevent aggression against the Syrian people," he said.

But there were other Arab nations which voiced reservations over or opposition to possible military intervention in Syria.

Algeria rejects any military intervention and calls for political negotiations, Algerian foreign minister Murad Madlisi said.

"The military intervention's expenses and implications over the whole region will be severe," Madlisi said at the meeting.

Lebanon expressed reservation over all items of the resolution, while Iraq and Algeria abstained from voting over item four, which called on the international community to shoulder responsibility and end "crimes of the Syrian regime".

Nevertheless, both condemned using chemical weapons against unarmed civilians, and called for holding the perpetrators accountable based on the report of the UN inspectors.

Following the meeting, Iraqi foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari told Xinhua that "Iraq wasn't neutral during the AL's meeting, but it also stuck to a peaceful solution.

"Iraq experienced the same sad accidents, and the use of the chemical weapons by the Saddam Hussein regime," said Zebari, but added that Iraq also expressed reservations over any military strike against Syria without international consensus.

In response to threats of military intervention from the West and the United States in particular, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Sunday that his country is capable of confronting any external aggression.