BEIRUT/WASHINGTON: Damascus hailed Sunday a “historic American retreat,” mockingly accusing President Barack Obama of hesitation and confusion after he delayed a military strike to consult Congress, while Arab League ministers urged quick action against the regime.

 

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry began laying out the case ahead of the biggest American foreign policy vote since the Iraq war by arguing in a series of TV interviews that new evidence shows the Syrian government used sarin gas in a deadly August attack.

 

Obama’s decision Saturday to seek congressional authorization for punitive military action against Syria is likely to delay any strike until at least next week.

 

However, the Arab League at a meeting of its foreign ministers urged the international community to take “deterrent” action against the Syrian regime over the alleged chemical attack.

 

“The United Nations and the international community are called upon to assume their responsibilities in line with the U.N. Charter and international law by taking the necessary deterrent measures” following the Aug. 21 suspected chemical attack, they said in a statement.

 

The ministers, meeting in Cairo, said the Syrian regime was responsible for the attack that the United States says killed more than 1,400 people.

 

During the debate, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal told the meeting that opposing international action on the grounds that it was “foreign intervention” was no longer acceptable.

 

“Any opposition to any international action would only encourage Damascus to move forward with committing its crimes and using all weapons of mass destruction,” Faisal said.

 

Echoing Faisal, the head of Syria’s opposition National Coalition urged Arab countries to back U.S.-led strikes.

 

“I am here before you today to appeal to your brotherly and humanitarian sentiments and ask you to back the international operation against the destructive war machine” of the Syrian regime, Ahmad al-Jarba said.

 

With Obama drawing back from the brink, President Bashar Assad’s government reacted defiantly to the threat of Western retaliation for the Aug. 21 chemical attack, which it says was staged by the rebels.

 

Assad said Syria was capable of confronting any external strike, but left the most withering comments to his official media and a junior minister.

 

“Obama announced yesterday, directly or through implication, the beginning of the historic American retreat,” Syria’s official Al-Thawra newspaper said on its front page.

 

Syria’s Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad accused Obama of indecision: “It is clear there was a sense of hesitation and disappointment in what was said by President Barack Obama yesterday. And it is also clear there was a sense of confusion as well.”

 

Before Obama put on the brakes, the path had been cleared for a U.S. assault. Navy ships were in place and awaiting orders, and U.N. inspectors had left Syria after gathering evidence on the use of chemical weapons. Kerry urged U.S. lawmakers to back a strike on Assad’s forces.

 

“This is squarely now in the hands of Congress,” he told CNN, saying he had confidence “they will do what is right because they understand the stakes.”

 

However, opinion polls show strong opposition to a punitive strike among Americans weary of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

U.S. lawmakers for the most part welcomed Obama’s decision but have not cut short their summer recess, which ends Sept. 9. Many Democrats and Republicans are uneasy about intervening in a distant civil war in which 110,000 people have been killed, according to activists.

 

Iran’s Foreign Minister said Congress was not authorized to green-light American military strikes against Syria as any such action would be in violation of international law.

 

“Mr. Obama cannot interpret and construe international law for his own [benefit],” Mohammad Javad Zarif said Sunday.

 

“Congress cannot authorize strikes [against Syria] and that attack would be in violation of international law,” he said, explaining that “only the U.N. Security Council – under special conditions – can issue authorization” for the use of force to restore international peace.

 

Kerry said he had more evidence implicating the Syrian government.

 

“I can share with you today that blood and hair samples that have come to us through an appropriate chain of custody, from east Damascus, from first responders, it has tested positive for signatures of sarin,” Kerry told CNN’s “State of the Union.”

 

The U.N. weapons inspectors collected their own samples and diplomats say Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has told the five permanent Security Council members that it would take up to two weeks before the final report is ready.

 

Ban views Obama’s decision “as one aspect of an effort to achieve a broad-based international consensus on measures in response to any use of chemical weapons,” U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said.

 

In Damascus, Syrians reacted with a mixture of relief, disappointment and scorn to Obama’s decision.

 

Bread had returned to the bakeries and members of the state security forces appeared relaxed, drinking tea at their posts outside government buildings.

 

“We always knew there wouldn’t be a strike. It’s not going to happen. Anyway, we were never nervous about it. We were just worried for the civilians. But we’re confident it’s not going to happen,” one of them said.

 

The United States had originally been expected to lead a strike relatively quickly, backed up by its NATO allies Britain and France. However, British lawmakers voted Thursday against any involvement and France said Sunday it would await the U.S. Congress’s decision.

 

“France cannot go it alone,” Interior Minister Manuel Valls told Europe 1 radio. “We need a coalition.”

 

French President Francois Hollande, whose country ruled Syria for more than two decades until the 1940s, has come under increasing pressure to put the intervention to parliament.

 

A BVA poll Saturday showed most French people do not approve of military action against Syria and most do not trust Hollande to conduct such an operation.

 

The threat of hostilities has caused widespread jitters in the region, particularly in Israel where some fear a Western strike may spark retaliatory attacks against the Jewish state.

 

Israel’s prime minister Sunday tried to soothe concerns, saying that Israel is “calm and self-assured” and ready for “any possible scenario.”

 

“Israeli citizens must also know that our enemies have very good reasons not to test our strength. They know why.”

AP: WELLINGTON, New ZealandAustralia is offering moral support for a U.S. military strike in Syria while New Zealand said Monday it needs more information after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry personally called each country's foreign minister.

 

Kerry has been trying to secure at least some international support for a potential U.S. strike after accusing the Syrian government of launching a chemical weapons attack.

 

Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr's spokesman Patrick Low said Monday that Kerry called last week and that Australia supports the U.S. taking action. He said Kerry didn't ask for military assistance and Australia didn't offer it.

 

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said Kerry called Foreign Minister Murray McCully over the weekend and that New Zealand wants to assess all steps taken ahead of a strike before stating its position.

 

The U.S. doesn't have widespread support internationally for military action. So far, only France has indicated it would join a U.S. strike. The Parliament of key ally Britain last week rejected a vote endorsing military action.

REUTERS: PARIS: France's government will not cede to calls from opposition figures to have lawmakers vote on whether to take military action in Syria, the head of parliament's foreign affairs committee Elisabeth Guigou said on Monday.

 

President Francois Hollande's demands for Bashar al-Assad's government to be punished for an alleged chemical attack have left him out on a limb since Britain's parliament voted against carrying out punitive strikes and U.S. President Barack Obama said he would seek Congress approval before any action.

 

Hollande is head of the army under the French constitution and empowered to order an intervention, with the sole obligation of informing parliament within three days of it starting. Only if military action were to last more than four months would he be obliged to seek parliamentary approval for it to continue.

 

With opinion polls showing up to two-thirds of the public would oppose an intervention in Syria, however, several conservative, centrist and green politicians called over the weekend for France to hold a special parliament vote.

 

"In a complicated situation like this, we need to stick to principles, in other words the constitution, which does not oblige the president to hold a vote, nor even a debate," Guigou, a veteran of the ruling Socialist Party, told France Info radio.

 

"I don't see that holding a vote would make any sense politically," she said, noting France would be left in an impossible situation were parliament to vote in favour of action and then the U.S. Congress to vote against.

 

She said the French government felt it was important not to do nothing, as that would send the signal to other hardline leaders that using chemical weapons against civilians can go unpunished, but said France would not act on its own.

 

"France cannot act alone. To give an intervention legality it would need to be carried out by a broad coalition," she said.

 

Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault will meet parliament leaders later on Monday to discuss the crisis and share with them French intelligence on the attack.

 

Guigou told France Info the French intelligence pointed clearly to Assad's forces being behind the attack, which allegedly killed hundreds of people, including many children.

 

A BVA opinion poll released on Saturday showed 64 percent of respondents opposed taking military action in Syria, 58 percent did not trust Hollande to conduct an operation and 35 percent feared that strikes could "set ablaze" the Middle East.

 

Former president Valery Giscard d'Estaing, a conservative, is among those saying Hollande should call a special parliament vote over taking military action, which he said he opposed.

 

Jean-Francois Cope, head of the conservative UMP party, said on Saturday that nothing should be done before U.N. inspectors release findings from the chemical attack site.

REUTERS: BEIJING: China said on Monday it was seriously concerned about any unilateral military action against Syria after U.S. President Barack Obama delayed a military response to last month's chemical weapons attack near Damascus until after a congressional vote. 

The United States has explained to China its evidence on chemical weapons use in Syria, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a daily news briefing.

 

China has said that no side should rush to pre-judge the results of an investigation by U.N. chemical weapons experts in Syria, who it said should carry out an objective and impartial investigation in consultation with the Syrian government.