Advisors to U.S. President Barack Obama on national security will meet this weekend at the White House to discuss all options against the Syrian government, including military action, an unnamed U.S. official stated.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told reporters traveling with him on an aircraft carrier to Malaysia that the Navy will expand its presence in the Mediterranean due to the civil war in Syria. He emphasized that Obama has inquired about all options, but that the Department of Defense has not yet received any orders.
Washington is under increasing pressure to respond to the recent chemical weapons attack in Syria. U.S. and allied intelligence agencies have assessed that Syrian government forces used chemical weapons in an attack on the eastern suburbs of Damascus and that this act was approved by President Bashar al-Assad’s government.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated that he will conduct a thorough, swift, and independent investigation into the latest chemical attack in Syria, which resulted in the deaths of over 1,000 civilians. Syrian authorities deny responsibility for this attack. As a result, high disarmament official Angela Kane will arrive in Damascus today to secure access to the attack site for UN inspectors.
