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Demonstrators hold up placards during a protest/AFP

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Britain says ‘no’ but US ready to act alone on Syria

“We certainly are interested in engaging with the global international community on this issue,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

“But at the same time, the president’s chief accountability is to the American people that he was elected to protect.

“The president believes strongly in making the kinds of decisions and taking the kinds of steps that are necessary to protect our core national security interests that we’ve acknowledged are at stake in this situation.”

Earlier, envoys from the permanent five members of the UN Security Council — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — had met at UN headquarters in New York.

The 45-minute meeting was the second since Britain proposed a draft resolution to permit “all necessary measures” to protect Syrian civilians after a suspected chemical weapons attack last week.

But none of the envoys commented as they left.

Earlier in the week reports had suggested that a Western strike was imminent, but questions have been raised about the quality of the intelligence linking Assad to the attack.

The White House reached out to US lawmakers, with the president’s top aides briefing congressional leaders in a 90 minute conference call.

Some members of Congress voiced support for limited, surgical strikes, while urging the administration to continue consulting closely with the Congress.

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Nancy Pelosi, the minority leader in the House, said she agreed with House Speaker John Boehner that “there needs to be more consultation with all members of Congress and additional transparency into the decision making process and timing, and that the case needs to be made to the American people.

“It is clear that the American people are weary of war. However, Assad gassing his own people is an issue of our national security, regional stability and global security. We must be clear that the United States rejects the use of chemical weapons by Assad or any other regime,” she said.

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