DAMASCUS/BEIRUT: A six-car convoy of United Nations inspectors left a Damascus hotel on Monday and headed to the scene of a poison gas attack outside the capital, as Britain said it would be possible to respond to the allegations without unanimous Security Council backing. 

The team of chemical weapons experts, dressed in blue U.N. body armour, were accompanied by security forces and an ambulance. They said they were headed to the rebel-held outskirts of Damascus, known as Eastern Ghouta, where activists say rockets loaded with poison gas killed hundreds of people.

 

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the U.N. had not done enough to shoulder the burden of the Syria crisis thus far.

 

"Is it possible to respond to chemical weapons without complete unity on the U.N. Security Council? I would argue yes it is, otherwise it might be impossible to respond to such outrages, such crimes, and I don't think that's an acceptable situation," Hague said on BBC radio.

 

Britain, has been among the major western governments calling for a strong international response to the alleged chemical attack. 

On Sunday, the Damascus government granted the U.N. team access to the site of the alleged attack, but Britain and the U.S. said it was too little, too late. 

"The United Nations Security Council ... has not been united on Syria, has not shouldered its responsibilities on Syria, bluntly, otherwise there would have been a better chance of bringing this conflict to an end a long time ago," Hague said.

 

The U.N. Security Council has been hamstrung by the opposition of veto-wielding members, Russia and China, to any firm action.

 

"Whatever we do will be in accordance with international law and will be based on legal advice to the national security council and to the cabinet," he added.

 

France, which also warned of taking action against the Syrian government over the alleged attack, said Monday that a decision would be made in the coming days. 

Asked on French radio about a possible reaction with "force", Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said a decision had not yet been taken, adding: "We have to assess the reactions... and that will be decided upon in the coming days."

 

The Syrian regime has angrily denied being behind the alleged attack, and has warned the United States of "failure" if it decides to attack the war-torn country.

 

Washington and its Western allies have pointed the finger of blame at Bashar al-Assad's regime, with French President Francois Hollande saying "everything was consistent" with the conclusion that Damascus was behind the alleged attack.

 

"The options are open. The only option that I do not envisage is to do nothing," Fabius told Europe 1 radio.

 

He said the existence of a "chemical massacre" had been established and that Assad was responsible.

 

"A reaction is needed, that's where we are now... There is a duty to react," he added.

 

Another fierce critic of the Assad regime, Turkey said Monday it would join any international coalition against Syria even if a wider consensus on action cannot be reached at the U.N. Security Council, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was quoted as saying.

 

"We always prioritise acting together with the international community, with United Nations decisions. If such a decision doesn't emerge from the U.N. Security Council, other alternatives ... would come onto the agenda," Davutoglu told the Milliyet daily.

 

"Currently 36-37 countries are discussing these alternatives. If a coalition is formed against Syria in this process, Turkey would take its place in this coalition."

 

"From the outset, Turkey has argued that the international community must not stand by in the face of the Assad regime's massacres," Davutoglu said.

 

"Leaving unpunished leaders and regimes which resort to such practices undermines the deterrence of the international community. Those who commit war crimes and crimes against humanity must definitely be punished."

 

Also Monday, senior military officers from Western and Muslim countries were gathering in Jordan to discuss the regional impact of the war in Syria, Jordanian officials said.

 

State-run Petra news agency quoted a Jordanian military spokesman as saying that the meeting comes at the invitation of Jordan's chief of staff Meshaal Mohamed al-Zaban and General Lloyd Austin, head of Centcom, the US command responsible for 20 countries in the Middle East and Central Asia.

 

US army chief General Martin Dempsey would take part, as would chiefs of staff from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Canada, said the official, cited by Petra. -- With Agencies