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A woman holds a placard during a demonstration against British military involvement in Syria opposite Downing Street in central London on August 28, 2013/AFP

World

Obama not ready to order Syria strike, gives up on UN

Syria’s nervous neighbors meanwhile stepped up their preparations for conflict as a strike appeared imminent.

Israel authorized a partial call up of army reservists, Turkey said its forces were on heightened “vigilance,” and New York oil hit the highest level for more than two years.

“The region is like a gunpowder depot,” Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned in a condemnation of the West’s reported military plans.

The United Nations says its inspection team needs two more days to finish their work. But it has given no deadline for reporting on whether chemical weapons have been used.

The inspectors went to the Ghouta district east of Damascus on Wednesday to collect blood, urine and hair samples from victims of the August 21 attack.

The United States, Britain and France blame Assad’s forces for the attack using chemical weapons, which are banned under an international convention.

The Syrian government has blamed the attack on “terrorist” rebels. Its UN ambassador, Bashar Jaafari, said Wednesday that Syrian soldiers had been gassed in three new incidents near Damascus since last week.

Russia, which has vetoed three UN Security Council resolutions aiming to increase pressure on Assad, has maintained its support for his government.

But it also evacuated more than 100 people from the Syrian city of Latakia on Wednesday.

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Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the international community must wait for the UN inquiry to be completed before taking any further steps, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

In another conversation with UN Syria envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, Lavrov said Western military strikes against Assad would destabilize the entire Middle East.

The Syrian government defiantly shrugged off the growing military threat.

Prime Minister Wael al-Halki accused the West of inventing excuses to intervene and warned that the country would become the “graveyard of the invaders.”

“Western countries, starting with the United States, are inventing fake scenarios and fictitious alibis to intervene militarily in Syria,” he was quoted as saying by state television.

UN leader Ban Ki-moon called on the international powers to head off conflict. He said more time must be given to the inspectors and made a new plea for the Security Council to overcome its divisions on Syria.

“Syria is the biggest challenge of war and peace in the world today. The body entrusted with maintaining international peace and security cannot be missing in action,” he said.

“The Council must at last find the unity to act. It must use its authority for peace,” Ban said.

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