The US and its allies are braced for a fresh confrontation with Russia in the UN Security Council after Britain presented a draft resolution seeking to secure international authority for military action against Syria.
As the White House and Downing Street prepared to unveil dossiers setting out how they claim Syrian government forces assembled and launched chemical weapons in an attack last week outside Damascus, officials in London said the Security Council had a “responsibility to act”.
Russia, Bashar al-Assad’s most powerful ally, argued it was premature to discuss such a resolution while UN inspectors were in Syria investigating the allegations.