France pulls back on supporting strike, Kerry fails to convince EU counterparts

[cali]

Secretary of State John Kerry failed to sway his European counterparts on the urgency of a U.S.-led military strike to halt the use of chemical weapons in Syria’s more than two-year civil war.

France, the principal U.S. ally in a possible assault, slowed its march to a confrontation by backing a European Union appeal to put off an armed response until the United Nations delivers a report on last month’s use of chemical agents in a massacre near Damascus.

“The EU underscores at the same time the need to move forward with addressing the Syrian crisis through the UN process,” the 28-nation bloc’s foreign-policy chief Catherine Ashton told reporters after EU foreign ministers met Kerry in Vilnius, Lithuania.

U.S. setbacks in securing international backing for targeted strikes on Syria’s war-making capability were matched by President Barack Obama’s trouble at home in persuading Congress to authorize an American intervention.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-07/kerry-fails-to-sway-european-skeptics-on-urgency-of-syria-strike.html

Two-thirds of French oppose Syria action: poll
http://www.france24.com/en/20130907-two-thirds-french-oppose-syria-action-poll


European Union Wants U.N. Report Before Any Military Action in Syria

The European Union said Saturday that a military strike against Syria should be put off until United Nations inspectors submit a preliminary report on a deadly chemical weapons attack near the Syrian capital, Damascus.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/08/world/europe/european-union-wants-un-report-before-any-military-action-in-syria.html?_r=0