US and France set for strikes on Syria THE United States moved closer to taking military action against Syria on Friday night as Secretary of State John Kerry released horrifying details of the "crimes against humanity" committed by Bashar al-Assad's regime. A US intelligence report said it had "high confidence" that a chemical weapons attack, which killed 1,429 Syrians including 426 children, had been carried out by Assad's government. The likelihood of military strikes had been ramped up earlier in the day when French president Francois Hollande said he supported taking "firm" punitive action. Mr Hollande said he could not rule out missile strikes within days. Mr Kerry showed his gratitude by referring to France as America's "oldest ally." Emphasising that the US had "friends ready to respond" including France and Australia, Mr Kerry pointedly omitted the UK from his list of America's allies after the House of Commons voted against David Cameron's attempt to take action against Syria. The day after his humiliating defeat, the Prime Minister accepted that he had to abide by the will of parliament. Despite the vote, which led to suggestions that Britain had become a country with a far reduced role in foreign affairs, Mr Cameron said that there had to be a robust response to the horrors unleashed by the Assad government. "I think it's important we have a robust response to the use of chemical weapons and there are a series of things we will continue to do," Mr Cameron said. We will continue to take a case to the United Nations, we will continue to work in all the organisations we are members of - whether the EU or Nato or the G8 or the G20 - to condemn what's happened in Syria. It's important we uphold the international taboo on the use of chemical weapons. But one thing that was proposed, the potential - only after another vote - involvement of the British military in any action, that won't be happening. Making an emotive statement at the US State Department last night, Mr Kerry said America would not turn a "blind eye" to the activities of Assad, who he denounced as a "murderer and a thug." We know that after a decade of conflict, the American people are tired of war. Believe me, I am too. But fatigue does not absolve us of responsibility," Mr Kerry said, as he outlined his "compelling" evidence against the Syrian government. Just longing for peace does not necessarily bring it about and history would judge us all extraordinarily harshly if we turned a blind eye to a dictator's wanton use of weapons of mass destruction against all warnings against all understanding of common decency. Later, President Barack Obama confirmed the US was exploring a range of military options but had yet to make a final decision on what form it would take. After a day spent with his National Security Team, the president said he would not tolerate the murder of innocent men, women and children with chemical attacks. Mr Obama said he had been in touch with Congress and his allies to discuss what the future holds. As US president, he said he had an obligation to maintain the international community's ban on chemical warfare. Mr Kerry referred to intelligence gathered from social media, witnesses, doctors and nurses, and intercepted communication from a senior official closely involved with the nerve-gas attack. He spoke of reports of the attack on 21 August which told of "victims with breathing difficulties, people twitching with spasms, coughing, rapid heartbeats, foaming at the mouth, unconsciousness and death." "We saw rows of dead lined up in burial shrouds, the white linen unstained by a single drop of blood," Mr Kerry said. Instead of being tucked safely in their beds at home, we saw rows of children lying side by side, sprawled on a hospital floor, all of them dead from Assad's gas and surrounded by parents and grandparents who had suffered the same fate. This is the indiscriminate, inconceivable horror of chemical weapons. He added: "This is what Assad did to his own people. We know that a senior regime official who knew about the attack confirmed that chemical weapons were used by the regime, reviewed the impact and actually was afraid that they would be discovered. After the huge controversy surrounding the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, Mr Kerry was at pains to suggest that the US government was publishing as much intelligence as it could to allay public fears, before President Obama takes the ultimate decision that will determine the form of the strike. Mr Kerry was also keen to suggest the mistakes of Iraq and Afghanistan would not be repeated this time around. It (the action) will not involve any boots on the ground. It will not be open-ended. And it will not assume responsibility for a civil war that is already well under way. Any action that he [President Obama] might decide to take will be [a] limited and tailored response to ensure that a despot's brutal and flagrant use of chemical weapons is held accountable. As he attempted to sell the prospect of military action to the American people, Mr Kerry said there would be a role for diplomacy and politics. But he emphasised America could not ignore what was going on. "It matters here if nothing is done," Mr Kerry said adding that if a "thug and a murderer like Bashar al-Assad can gas thousands of his own people with impunity" then it would be an example to others such as Iran, Hezbollah and North Korea. "Will they remember that the Assad regime was stopped from those weapons" current or future use? Or will they remember that the world stood aside and created impunity? According to Mr Kerry, Assad's regime had the largest arsenal of chemical weapons in the Middle East and had used it in the past. Any military strike looks unlikely at least until UN weapons inspectors leave Syria today. Mr Kerry indicated that information unearthed by the inspectors would have little bearing on US thinking. He said it was outwith the remit of the inspectors to conclude who was responsible for the chemical weapons attack. They will only affirm whether such weapons were used. Mr Kerry added that because of "guaranteed Russian obstructionism" of any action through the Security Council, the UN was unable to galvanise the world to act as it should. Yesterday, an aide to Russian president Vladimir Putin, a close Assad ally, said the Commons vote reflected wider European worries about the dangers of a military response. Assad's government has repeatedly denied carrying out the chemical weapons attack, blaming rebels who it suggested were trying to provoke intervention.