August 30 | ABC
The British government has published internal legal advice it says shows it is legally entitled to take military action against Syria even if the UN Security Council ruled against it.
The news comes as both Britain and Russia deploy military resources to strategic areas as tensions grow in the Syrian crisis.
Key points
Russia sends warships to the Mediterranean, but says it is nothing out of the ordinary.
Britain sends six Typhoon jets to base in Cyprus.
France says strike plans against Assad regime "difficult to develop".
UN team investigating chemical weapons use to leave Syria on Saturday
The British government is insisting there should be a military response to the use of chemical weapons, but getting political and popular backing for intervention will not be easy.
British MPs were recalled early from their summer holidays in the hope of gaining parliamentary support for military action against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
The leader of Britain's opposition Labour Party, Ed Miliband, says parliament should not have to decide whether to approve military intervention in Syria on what he calls an "artificial timetable".
"This is a very grave decision to take military action that the House of Commons is deciding," he said.
"And I didn't think that that decision should be made on an artificial timetable when the House of Commons wouldn't have even seen the evidence today from the United Nations weapons inspectors.
"I'm determined we learn the lessons of the past, including Iraq."
