Parliament recalled to debate Syria response

A U.N. chemical weapons expert gathers evidence at one of the sites of an alleged poison gas attack in Damascus. Picture: Reuters

Prime Minister David Cameron has confirmed that he will be recalling Parliament this week to give MPs a vote on “a clear motion” how to proceed.

He wrote on Twitter: “Speaker agrees my request to recall Parliament on Thurs. There’ll be a clear Govt motion & vote on UK response to chemical weapons attacks.”

The Prime Minister will chair a National Security Council meeting tomorrow to discuss the strategy further but Downing Street has confirmed that military options are now being considered following evidence that the Assad regime in Syria has used chemical weapons on its own people.

Armed forces chiefs have already started drawing up plans which could initially mean a missile against specific military targets but could also see further escalation as the crisis in Syria deepens.

Foreign Secretary William Hague has declined to rule out military action, such as targeted air strikes, being launched within days.

At the same time, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem claimed any foreign strike on his country would be “delusional”.

He says Syria will defend itself against any strike using “all available means”.

“We have two options: either to surrender, or to defend ourselves with the means at our disposal,” he said.

“The second choice is the best: we will defend ourselves.”

House of Lords

Peers will also be recalled to Parliament, according to the Labour whips’ office.

Meanwhile, The United States is “ready to go” if the decision is made to intervene militarily in Syria, US defence secretary Chuck Hagel said.

Mr Hagel told the BBC it was “clearer and clearer the Syrian government was responsible” for chemical attacks in the suburbs of Damascus last week.

The defence secretary said the US and its allies were working with the United Nations on Syria and said a range of options were available.

Mr Hagel said: “I think it is pretty clear chemical weapons were used against people in Syria. I think the intelligence will conclude it was not the rebels who used it.

“The deeper we get into this, it is becoming clearer and clearer the government of Syria was responsible.

“I think the law of international humanitarian standards is a pretty important law. We work through international bodies, of course we do.

“No nation, no group of nations is bound by only one dimension of whether they make a decision to respond to any self defence or other violation of the kind of humanitarian violation we saw in Syria.

“We are working with the United Nations, our partners are working with the United Nations, and that’s an appropriate action to take.

“There are a different range of options - suffice to say, the options are there and the United States Department of Defence is ready to carry out those options.

“If that were to occur, it would occur also in coordination with our international partners.

“As I’ve said... let’s get the facts, let’s get the intelligence, then a decision will be made if action should be taken, what action should be taken, or no action.

“We are ready to go.”