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LequteMan
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US Vice-President Joe Biden has said there is "no doubt" that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons and that it must be held accountable
The US has said its military is ready to launch strikes should President Barack Obama order an attack, and allies say they too are ready to act.
UN weapons inspectors are set to return to the site of last week's suspected attack near Damascus today.
Their evidence-gathering visit was delayed by a day after they were fired on.
The US has not yet released its intelligence report into the alleged chemical attack, but US officials now say they are certain the Syrian government was behind the incident.
Any military campaign is likely to be limited in scope, with missile strikes targeting military sites and no ground troops.
According to BBC diplomatic correspondent James Robin, the US, UK and France will have the larger task of building as wide a coalition as possible to support limited military action.
Syrian opposition sources have said they have been told to expect a Western intervention in the conflict imminently. "There is no precise timing... but one can speak of an imminent international intervention against the regime. It's a question of days and not weeks," AFP news agency quoted Syrian National Coalition official Ahmad Ramadan as saying.
Russia, China and Iran have warned of what Moscow called the "catastrophic" consequences of launching an attack on the war-ravaged country, where more than 100,000 people are thought to have died in two years of fighting.
Fear and discomfort are palpable among those living in the capital. People are haunted by the possibility of a Western military strike on Syria, discussion of which is dominating the headlines of satellite channels.
"I don't want Syria to become another Iraq... Enough bloodshed," cried one Syrian woman.
"We, and thousands like us across Syria, will face any country that tries to attack us," threatened a young man, pointing at his weapon, which he uses to protect his neighbourhood. "These are Syria's problems and it is up to us, Syrians, to solve them."