President Obama says he will pursue diplomatic efforts to remove Syria's chemical weapons but has ordered the US military to "be in a position to respond" if such measures fail. In a televised address, he said he had asked Congress to postpone a vote authorising the use of force.
The US has threatened air strikes after a chemical weapons attack killed hundreds in Damascus last month.
Russia has proposed such weapons be placed under international control. Although Syrian officials have agreed in principle, the US and its allies remain sceptical.
The Russian plan triggered a day of diplomatic wrangling at the UN on Tuesday. Speaking from the White House, President Obama said his administration had long resisted calls for military action in Syria because he did not believe that force could solve the civil war. But he said he changed his mind after the chemical weapons attack in the Damascus suburbs on 21 August. "The images from this massacre are sickening," he said.
"On that terrible night, the world saw in gruesome detail the terrible nature of chemical weapons and why the overwhelming majority of humanity has declared them off limits, a crime against humanity and a violation of the laws of war."
The Syrian government has strongly denied carrying out the attack and instead blamed rebels trying to oust President Bashar al-Assad.
But Mr Obama said the US "knew" the Assad regime was to blame.
"We know that Assad's chemical weapons personnel prepared for an attack near an area where they mix sarin gas," he said.
"They distributed gas masks to their troops. Then they fired rockets from a regime-controlled area into 11 neighbourhoods that the regime has been trying to wipe clear of opposition forces."
Mr Obama said that such an attack was not only a violation of international law it was also a danger to US national security.
Americans in Washington react to the speech
"As the ban against these weapons erodes, other tyrants will have no reason to think twice about acquiring poison gas and using them," he said.
He said that "after careful deliberation" he had decided to respond to the use of chemical weapons through "a targeted military strike".
"The purpose of this strike would be to deter Assad from using chemical weapons, to degrade his regime's ability to use them and to make clear to the world that we will not tolerate their use. That's my judgment as commander in chief."
However, he said he would not "put American boots on the ground in Syria" or pursue open-ended action such as that in Iraq or Afghanistan.
He added: "Others have asked whether it's worth acting if we don't take out Assad. As some members of Congress have said, there's no point in simply doing a pinprick strike in Syria. Let me make something clear: The United States military doesn't do pinpricks."
President Obama said he welcomed Russia's proposal as an alternative to military action, but added: "It's too early to tell whether this offer will succeed.
"Any agreement must verify that the Assad regime keeps its commitments. But this initiative has the potential to remove the threat of chemical weapons without the use of force."
"Hunting down banned chemical weapons in a secretive Middle Eastern dictatorship is not easy," as Frank Gardner reports
President Obama said he had therefore asked the leaders of Congress to postpone a vote to authorise the use of force "while we pursue this diplomatic path".
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24043751
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