Warships stand ready for action

A Syrian army soldier wears a medical mask as stand guard on a street in the Jobar neighbourhood of Damascus.

The United States Sixth Fleet, based in Naples, is responsible for security in the Mediterranean and most recently spearheaded the bombing of targets in Libya before the overthrow of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

It has deployed destroyers in the region: the Gravely, the Barry, the Ramage and the Mahan, which it decided to keep in the area instead of letting it return to its home port in Virginia.

All are equipped with several dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles. The fleet's flagship, the USS Mount Whitney, left a port visit in France last week. It is said to carry the world's most advance command and control technology.

Some of its vessels took part in exercises with Israeli defence forces this month.

Developments on Syria

* Meeting with his national security team, US President Barack Obama received a detailed review of the range of options available on Syria. Obama discussed the situation by telephone with British Prime Minister David Cameron.

* US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel says the Obama Administration is still weighing the question of whether to use military force in Syria. He said the Administration is weighing many factors, including an intelligence assessment of the alleged chemical attack in Syria, legal issues and international support for any military response.

* The Pentagon says US Central Command and the Jordanian armed forces are co-hosting Middle East defence chiefs in Jordan over the next few days. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, is attending.

* Noting that the UN Security Council has called for investigators to be granted immediate access to the area, Cameron's office said: "The fact that President [Bashar ] al-Assad has failed to co-operate with the UN suggests that the regime has something to hide". The UN disarmament chief, Angela Kane, arrived in Damascus to press the Syrian Government to allow UN experts to investigate the alleged chemical attacks.

* The US Navy is keeping four warships armed with ballistic missiles in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, one more than normal. There are no immediate orders for any missile launch.

* The Syrian Government has accused rebels of using chemical weapons and warned the US not to launch any military action against Damascus, saying such a move would set the Middle East ablaze.

* Medecins Sans Frontieres said three hospitals it supports in the eastern Damascus region reported receiving roughly 3600 patients with "neurotoxic symptoms" over less than three hours last Thursday, when the attack in the eastern Ghouta area took place. Of those, 355 died, the Paris-based group said.

* The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that its estimated death toll from the alleged chemical attack had reached 322, including 54 children, 82 women and dozens of fighters.

- AP, AFP