Syria crisis: UN inspectors renew chemical attack probe
UN chemical weapons inspectors are due to start a second day of investigations into last week's attacks in the suburbs of the Syrian capital, Damascus.
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The UN team came under sniper fire as they tried to visit an area west of the city on Monday.
The US and its allies are considering military strikes on Syria, although Russia - Syria's ally - has warned against this.
Both the Syrian government and rebels have blamed each other for the attacks.
Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said three hospitals it supports in the Damascus area had treated about 3,600 patients with "neurotoxic symptoms" last Wednesday, of whom 355 died.
In the most forceful US reaction yet, US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday there was there was "undeniable" evidence of a chemical attack.
US officials said there was "little doubt" that President Bashar al-Assad's government was to blame.
UN inspectors spent nearly three hours in the western district of Muadhamiya on Monday where they visited two hospitals and interviewed survivors, eyewitnesses and doctors.
A UN spokesman said they had collected some samples.
Earlier in the day, the UN convoy came under fire by unidentified snipers and was forced to turn back before resuming its journey.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the shooting and asked the UN team in Syria to register a complaint.
'Accountability'
Mr Kerry said the delay in allowing UN inspectors to the sites was a sign the Syrian government had something to hide.
He said Washington had additional information about the attacks that it would make public in the days ahead.
"What we saw in Syria last week should shock the conscience of the world. It defies any code of morality," Mr Kerry said at a news conference on Monday.
"Make no mistake, President Obama believes there must be accountability for those who would use the world's most heinous weapons against the world's most vulnerable people."
Washington has recently bolstered its naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean and military leaders from the US, UK and their allies have convened a meeting in Jordan.
Analysts believe the most likely US action would be sea-launched cruise missiles targeting Syrian military installations.
But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters on Monday the West had not produced any proof that President Assad's forces had used chemical weapons.
He was responding to suggestions from some Western countries that military action against the Syrian government could be taken without a UN mandate.
Mr Lavrov said the use of force without Security Council backing would be "a crude violation of international law".
The UN Security Council is divided, with Russia and China opposing military intervention and the UK and France warning that the UN could be bypassed if there was "great humanitarian need".
The UN says more than 100,000 people have been killed since the uprising against President Assad began more than two years ago. The conflict has produced more than 1.7 million registered refugees.
Source: BBC
