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Snipers shot at a UN team set to inspect the site of a suspected deadly chemical weapons attack in Syria on Monday, further ratcheting up tensions as the West warned of possible military action against Damascus.
A defiant Syrian President Bashar al-Assad declared that any strike by the US and its allies would be doomed to failure and key ally Moscow said it could have dangerous consequences for the entire region.
A UN spokesman said unidentified snipers shot at the UN experts looking into allegations of a chemical attack near Damascus last week that the Syrian opposition claimed killed hundreds of civilians.
The attack forced them to suspend their inspection but no injuries were reported, said spokesman Martin Nesirky. "The first vehicle of the chemical weapons investigation team was deliberately shot at multiple times by unidentified snipers," he said.
The attack came as the West appeared to be moving closer to launching a military response over last Wednesday's attack near Damascus, which shocked the world after grisly pictures emerged of dead children with horrific injuries.
Britain said the West could act even without full UN Security Council backing, with China and Moscow likely to boycott any resolution backing a military strike.
Washington and its allies have pointed the finger of blame at Assad's regime for the alleged attack, the latest atrocity in a conflict that has claimed the lives of more than 100,000 people since March 2011.
Assad, in an interview with a Russian newspaper published today, angrily denied the accusations as an "insult to common sense" and said any military action was doomed to failure.
"The United States faces failure just like in all the previous wars they waged," he said.
A senior Syrian security official told AFP the regime was ready to face "all scenarios".
"Western threats of strikes against Syria are part of the psychological and political pressure against Syria, but in any case we are ready to face all scenarios," the official said.
