[UPI News] – FRANCE, France, Aug. 22 (UPI) — France‘s foreign minister Thursday called for the use of force against Syria if claims chemical weapons were used against civilians are confirmed.Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said if reports by opposition activist groups are correct that more than 1,300 people died in a chemical weapons attack outside Damascus, “a reaction of force must be taken,” CNN reported.An emergency session of the U.N. Security Council was called after the report emerged, but Russia and China blocked a formal resolution.
Fabius said after the session, if the U.N. Security Council “cannot do it, decisions will be made otherwise.” However, he ruled out sending ground troops into Syria.Speaking in Berlin, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called on the United Nations to act decisively, saying “all red lines” had been crossed, referencing a phrase coined a year ago by President Obama.The Security Council “can’t assume an undecisive attitude,” he said.Davutoglu called on Syria to allow U.N. inspectors to visit the site of the alleged bombing immediately.A U.S. official said the White House has “strong indications” the Assad regime used nerve gas in attacks on Syrian rebels.Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Yuval Steinetz backed up the U.S. claim.”According to our intelligence assessments there was use of chemical weapons, and this of course was not for the first time,” The New York Times reported.He called the U.N. investigation “a joke,” CNN said.Syrian authorities denied using chemical weapons. They accused the opposition of fabricating claims or staging gas attacks.Russia alleged rebels staged the attack to get the U.N. Security Council to side with the opposition and scuttle possible peace talks.At least five towns were gassed in the pre-dawn attacks in Damascus suburbs where rebels have had recent success in fighting off regime forces, opposition groups and activists said.Witnesses said Russian-type Grad rockets — similar to those the Palestinian Sunni Islamic group Hamas has fired into Israel — started falling about 2 a.m.Dozens of videos posted online showed scores of lifeless bodies sprawled on floors. Some men were wrapped in burial shrouds, some children were in diapers. No wounds were visible.Other videos showed children on makeshift hospital floors vomiting, convulsing and struggling to breathe. Some were being treated with hand-held respirators while others received cardiopulmonary resuscitation…..
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