BBC News with Nick Kelly.
President Obama has said that he has not yet made a final decision on the response to last week’s suspected chemical attack in Syria, but he said it will be a limited action. He said the attack was a challenge to the world that threatens US national security interests and its allies like Israel and Jordan.
“We are not considering any open-ended commitment. We are not considering any boots-on-the-ground approach. What we will do is consider options that meet the narrow concern around chemical weapons, understanding that there is not going to be a solely military solution to the underlying conflict and tragedy that’s taking place in Syria.”
Mr Obama was speaking shortly after his Secretary of State John Kerry made the strongest case so far for limited military action against the Syrian government.
“We know where the rockets were launched from and at what time. We know where they landed and when. We know rockets came only from regime-controlled areas and went only to opposition-controlled or contested neighbourhoods. And we know, as does the world, that just 90 minutes later all hell broke loose in the social media.”
Mr Kerry said at least 1,429 Syrians were killed in the attack, including 426 children. He called it a crime against humanity and explained why it mattered to the United States to take action.
“It matters because if we choose to live in a world where a thug and murderer like Bashar al-Assad can gas thousands of his own people with impunity even after the United States and our allies said no, and then the world does nothing about it, there will be no end to the test of our resolve and the dangers that will flow from those others who believe that they can do as they will.”