The challenge came as Western powers were debating the use of military force against Syria's government to counter a chemical weapons attack in Damascus' suburbs last week.
On Wednesday, U.S.
President Barack Obama said there's no doubt that Syria launched
chemical weapons attacks against its own people. Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad's regime has blamed the August 21 attack on rebels.
Most recent:
-- French President
Francois Hollande told newspaper Le Monde that a possible miliatry
intervention should be limited and not include al-Assad's overthrow.
The Syrian army and its
people will respond to any attack and are ready to confront any form of
military aggression by superpowers against the country, Syria's defense
minister Fahd Jasem al-Freij said during a telephone call with his
Iranian counterpart, Hussein Dehghan, Syrian state news agency SANA,
reported Friday.
-- Iran's armed forces
chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi, warned the United States
and its allies against any attack on Syria, saying any new military
operation in the region would inflict serious damage and would only
benefit Israel, the Iranian state news agency IRNA, reported Friday.
-- Washington respects a
vote by the British parliament rejecting a strong response to recent
developments in Syria, U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said
Friday. "Every nation has a responsibility to make their own decisions,
and we respect that of any nation," he told journalists in the
Philippine capital, Manila. The United States is seeking "an
international collaboration and effort" on "whatever decision is taken"
to address the Syrian crisis.
-- The United States may
have to take unilateral action against Syria after British lawmakers
voted down a proposal for military action, a senior U.S. official said.
How did the civil war begin?
How did the civil war begin?
It all started in February 2011 in the city of Daraa, when authorities arrested 15 schoolchildren for painting anti-government graffiti on the walls of a school. The children didn't mince words with the message they painted: "The people want to topple the regime."
Word spread that the children were allegedly mistreated while in custody. Outrage over their arrest grew, fueling protests.
Security forces opened fire, activists say, killing at least four protesters.
These four, activists say, were the first deaths in Syria's civil war.
Within days, according to Human Rights Watch, protests grew into massive rallies made up of thousands.
Their rallying cry: "Daraa!" the city whose children sparked a national movement.
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