Syria: William Hague refuses to rule out any options

Mr Hague revealed he had held talks with US secretary of state John Kerry and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon over what action should be taken next. Picture: PA

The Foreign Secretary’s comments make him the first western leader to blame the regime directly and also cast doubt on the suggestions the attack could have been carried out by rebel forces to spark outrage against the government.

Mr Hague was last night involved in a series of talks with international figures over the next steps to take and stressed “time is of the essence” in getting United Nations weapons inspectors to the scene.

United States president Barack Obama has described the attack as of “grave concern”, but appeared to warn against calls for the use of force against Assad.

The US has asked the Syrians to allow a UN investigation, but fears this will not happen.

Speaking at the Foreign Office, Mr Hague warned the UK would be ready to go back to the UN Security Council to secure a stronger mandate “for the world to speak together more forcefully about this” if there was no movement in the next few days.

He said: “This is what we are focused on, and we are working with countries all over the world to try to bring this about and to try to establish the truth to the satisfaction of the world about what is clearly a terrible atrocity.

“The only possible explanation of what we have been able to see is that it was a chemical attack and clearly many, many hundreds of people have been killed – some of the estimates are well over 1,000.

“There is no other plausible explanation for casualties so intense in such a small area on this scale. I know some people in the world would like to say this is some kind of conspiracy brought about by the opposition in Syria. I think the chances of that are vanishingly small.

“So we do believe this is a chemical attack by the Assad regime on a large scale, but we would like the United Nations to be able to assess that, so those who don’t believe that, those who doubt that, the evidence can be gathered. But that is certainly our opinion.”

Mr Hague revealed he had held talks with US secretary of state John Kerry and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon over what action should be taken next and will continue discussions with other international leaders throughout the day.

He said: “We need to make sure the world knows the facts of what has happened and that means the UN team that is in Damascus – only 20 minutes travel away – being able to get there and to investigate.”

Mr Hague said the Security Council members had already expressed support for the UN team to investigate the scene of the atrocity in an effort to find out who was behind it and the extent of the damage caused.

The Foreign Secretary said: “They have not yet been able to, and already it seems the Assad regime has something to hide – why else have they not allowed the UN team to go there?

“Of course, we hope they will be able to go there. I discussed this with the UN Secretary-General and he agreed time is of the essence, that he is pressing for the UN team to be able to gain unimpeded access to the site.

“He is sending other people to Damascus, so I said he had our strong support. I am encouraging other countries to support this, too.

“If that does not happen, though, within some days – since time is of the essence in these things [and] the evidence will deteriorate over a matter of days – then we will need to be ready to go back to the Security Council to get a stronger mandate and for the world to speak together more forcefully about this so there can be access.”

Meanwhile, harrowing footage emerged online last night from the scene of the alleged chemical attack on Wednesday. It included images of unconscious children and other victims with foam dripping from their mouths.

Unverified images showed bloodied and disorientated casualties in makeshift hospitals suffering convulsions and breathing difficulties.

The attack in the Ain Tarma suburb of Damascus is said to have involved rockets loaded with toxic agents. Some estimates from the opposition placed the number of dead at up to 1,700.

Mr Hague added: “This is not something that a humane or civilised world can ignore.”

Last night, Russia joined growing support for an “objective investigation” by UN chemical weapons experts on the ground, but said calls for the UN Security Council to authorise the use of force in Syria were “unacceptable”.

France’s foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, said “reaction with force” would be needed if the regime was found to have used chemical weapons against civilians.

And Mr Obama said officials were gathering information about the attack. Last night, he said: “What we’ve seen indicates this is clearly a big event of grave concern. It is very troublesome.”

Britain formally wrote to Mr Ban yesterday with 36 other countries, calling for the UN team in Syria to be given access to the site.

The regime has dismissed as “baseless” claims that it was behind the latest incident.