“To date, the Government of Syria has fully cooperated in supporting the work of the advance team and the OPCW-UN Joint Mission,” said Special Coordinator Sigrid Kaag in a statement from Damascus.

She noted that the timeframes are “challenging” given the goal of eliminating the country’s chemical weapons programme in the first half of 2014.

Inspections so far have been conducted at 17 sites, the OPCW confirmed today. At 14 of these sites, the inspectors carried out activities related to the destruction of critical equipment to make the facilities inoperable.

“The Technical Secretariat continues to assist Syria in Damascus in finalising its initial formal declaration covering its chemical weapons and related facilities,” the OPCW noted on its website.

Meanwhile, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is racing against time to help Syrians prepare for oncoming winter as temperatures across the region are already dropping.

Spokesperson Adrian Edwards told journalists in Geneva that UNHCR relief aid has been delivered to some 2,500 people who have now been evacuated from Mouadamiya in Rural Damascus, where thousands are still believed to be trapped.

In addition to monitoring the general condition and protection concerns of these internally displaced people, UNHCR delivered relief items including mattresses, blankets, cooking sets, hygienic supplies and other aid.

Last week, through local partners, UNHCR delivered aid within the hard-to-reach city of Raqqa to more than 10,000 people. Raqqa, located in northern Iraq, hosts internally displaced people from Deir es Zour and from Aleppo, 160 kilometres to the west.

“UNHCR observed that many of the displaced are living in buildings that lack windows, doors and electricity. People in this area will soon urgently require thermal blankets and plastic sheets to deal with winter temperatures,” Edwards said.

“Virtually every town and city across Syria is affected by the conflict or hosts traumatized, displaced people,” the spokesperson said.

Women told us they lacked privacy in the collective shelters, Edwards noted. He added concerns about the vulnerability of women, many heading broken households.

In addition, the UN agency is worried about the impact of the crisis on young people, almost two million of whom have dropped out of school and a growing number of which are being exploited for labour or recruited into armed groups.

Through the unanimous adoption of resolution 2118 (2013), the Council called for the speedy implementation of procedures drawn up by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) “for the expeditious destruction of the Syrian Arab Republic’s chemical weapons programme and stringent verification thereof.”

In the text, the Council underscored “that no party in Syria should use, develop, produce, acquire, stockpile, retain, or transfer chemical weapons.”

Defiance of the resolution, including unauthorized transfer of chemical weapons, or any use of chemical weapons by anyone in Syria, would bring about measures under the UN Charter’s binding Chapter VII, which can include sanctions or stronger coercive action, the Council said.

The 15-member body added that it would work with the OPCW in deploying a chemical weapons “monitoring and destruction team” – expecting the full cooperation of the Syrian Government – and it appealed to UN Member States for support, including personnel, expertise, funding and equipment.

It also authorized Member States to acquire, control, transport, transfer and destroy chemical weapons identified by the Director-General of the OPCW, in a way consistent with the Chemical Weapons Convention and the interest of non-proliferation.

“Today’s historic resolution is the first hopeful news on Syria in a long time,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Council following the adoption. “For many months, I have said that the confirmed use of chemical weapons in Syria would require a firm, united response.

“Tonight, the international community has delivered,” he stated.

“As we mark this important step, we must never forget that the catalogue of horrors in Syria continues with bombs and tanks, grenades and guns,” Ban added. “A red light for one form of weapons does not mean a green light for others. This is not a license to kill with conventional weapons. All the violence must end. All the guns must fall silent.”

Earlier yesterday, Ban’s spokesperson said that the UN team led by Swedish scientist ?ke Sellström has been able to resume its fact-finding activities related to all pending credible allegations of chemical weapons use, following its return to Syria this week.

Those allegations include, he said, the 19 March incident at Khan al-Asal, reported first by Syria and subsequently by other Member States. As previously agreed with Syria, the other allegations to be investigated include the 13 April incident at Sheikh Maqsud, reported by the United States, and the 29 April incident at Saraqueb, reported by France and the United Kingdom.

In addition, he said, the mission has continued to follow-up with the Government of Syria and to evaluate information it has provided on three additional allegations, including the incidents at Bahhariyeh on 22 August, at Jobar on 24 August, and at Sahnaya on 25 August.

The team, assisted by experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the OPCW, visited the country last month and found “clear and convincing evidence” that Sarin gas was used in an incident that occurred on 21 August in the Ghouta area on the outskirts of Damascus in which hundreds of people were reportedly killed.

Under the General Assembly-approved guidelines, the spokesperson recalled, the mission is obliged to evaluate all available information related to all allegations reported by Member States, for the purpose of preparing its final report.

Also in today’s resolution, the Council endorsed a plan for a Syrian-led process, with participation of all parties, to end the conflict, which has claimed over 100,000 lives since it began in March 2011 and has led to over 2 million people fleeing the country, with some 4 million internally displaced.

It also called for convening, as soon as possible, an international peace conference that is fully representative of the Syrian people.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Mr. Ban said the aim is to hold the conference in mid-November. “The United Nations is ready to host Geneva II. It is time for the parties to focus on how to build the peaceful, democratic future Syria needs. All those with influence on the parties must use that influence now. It is crucial to keep up the momentum.

“Today can and must be a stepping stone to peace.”

“All parties to the conflict in Syria must comply with the rules of international humanitarian law to protect civilians against the violence of conflict at all times. It is our moral duty to remind them of their obligation to do so and to protect the provision of medical and humanitarian assistance in Syria. Violence against civilians in Syria must stop now. Expansion of current humanitarian efforts is urgently required, independent of political efforts to resolve the conflict. We call upon all parties to the conflict to:

- immediately uphold their obligation to protect civilians as well as medical personnel, facilities and transport;

- allow and facilitate immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access to the whole of the territory;

- guarantee without delay the safety and security of humanitarian personnel in the exercise of their duties

Imagine that the city you live in, the place where you work and where your children go to school are all being destroyed. Not quickly from one day to another, but in a slow, gradual and unpredictable manner. Imagine the uncertainty and stress you would feel at the thought of tomorrow. Will the next house destroyed be my neighbour’s? Will it be mine? This is the tragic and unbearable reality for people living in Syria.

We want people around the world to understand that the on-going conflict in Syria has real and tangible consequences for ordinary people. So even though much of the discussion and coverage of the crisis tends to focus on the political and military situation, we must not lose sight of the day-to-day impact on people living in Syria.

The tragic conflict in Syria has continued for more than two years. Thousands of civilians have been killed every month and those who survive – whether in Syria or in its neighboring countries – suffer unprecedented humanitarian hardship.

We are shocked by the growing tragic consequences of the conflict. Fighting and violence have reached intolerable levels, leading to unbearable suffering, loss of human life, refugees-flows, massive displacement of people and material destruction. Despite the efforts to increase protection for all affected civilians in Syria and in neighbouring countries, the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate dramatically and many civilians remain cut off from humanitarian assistance. We are particularly concerned about the most vulnerable, especially children and women.

The numbers speak for themselves. More than 100.000 people are estimated to have been killed during the war and 465.000 injured. More than 2 million refugees including 1 million of children have already left Syria, while 4.3 million including 2 millions of children have been forced from their homes, but remain within the Syrian borders. These numbers continue to increase daily.

We are appalled by the use of chemical weapons in Syria, which have taken so many civilian lives, including numerous women and children. We condemn in the strongest terms the use of such weapons of mass destruction. The use of chemical weapons by anyone under any circumstances is a grave violation of international law and an outrageous war crime. There should be no impunity for such acts and any perpetrators must be brought to justice.

All parties to the conflict have the responsibility to comply with the rules of international humanitarian law, including the principles of distinction, proportionality and humanity to protect civilians against the violence of conflict at all times. We have a moral obligation to remind and influence all parties to respect their obligations and to protect the provision of medical and humanitarian assistance in Syria.

In particular, we are greatly concerned that medical infrastructure has been severely damaged or destroyed. According to the UN, 60% of the public hospitals have been affected, many badly damaged and almost 40% completely unusable. Almost 80% of ambulances in the country have been damaged and, alarmingly, some are being misused for combat purposes. Convoys are regularly checked and medical supplies are often being seized. Patients, medical personnel, facilities and vehicles are being deliberately targeted by those involved in the hostilities. Medical facilities, including hospitals, are being exploited for combat purposes, and some are even being used as torture and detention centres.

As a result of the damage to health facilities, lack of qualified health personnel and insecurity, many people cannot consistently access medical care. This deprives them of basic medical services placing in particular women and children at significant risk, as well as those who suffer from chronic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. The disruption of vaccination programmes, damage to water and sanitation services, and destruction of homes and shelters also places people at substantial risk of infectious diseases. Outbreak of measles and diarrhea have already been documented.

In some instances, life-saving surgical supplies have been removed from aid convoys. We are also seeing too many civilians dying of injuries, which they could have survived, if only timely medical assistance was available. At the same time, humanitarian organizations continue to face dire conditions as they attempt to access victims.

Violence against civilians in Syria must stop now. Expansion of current humanitarian efforts is urgently required, independent of political efforts to resolve the conflict.

We express our gratitude to the humanitarian workers from various UN, international and domestic organisations, who put their lives at risk on the ground every day to deliver humanitarian supplies to all the civilians under extraordinary difficult circumstances. We wish to praise the courage and solidarity of ordinary men and women in their efforts to relieve the suffering of their families and neighbours in such a dire and tragic situation.

We call upon all parties to the conflict to immediately uphold their obligation to protect civilians as well as medical personnel, facilities and transport. They must allow and facilitate immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access to the whole of the territory, including delivery of medical care and humanitarian assistance on a non-discriminatory basis. We urge all parties to guarantee the safety and security of humanitarian personnel in the exercise of their duties.”

List of Ministers of Foreign Affairs who sign the joint article: Michael Spindelegger, Vice-Chancellor & Federal Minister for European and International Affairs, Austria; Didier Reynders, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and European Affairs, Belgium; Kristian Vigenin, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Bulgaria; Charles Koffi Diby, Minister of State, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Côte d’Ivoire; Vesna Pusić, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Republic of Croatia; Ioannis Kasoulides, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Cyprus; Jan Kohout, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Czech Republic; Christian Friis Bach, Minister for Development Cooperation, Denmark; Nabil Fahmy, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arab Republic of Egypt; Urmaes Paet, Deputy Prime-Minister and Foreign Minister, Greece; Kristalina Georgieva, International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis response Commissioner, European Commission; Heidi Hautala, Minister for International Development, Finland; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Estonia; Evangelos Venizelos, Deputy Prime-Minister and Foreign Minister, Greece; Janos Martonyi, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hungary; Dr. Marty M. Natalegawa, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia; Eamon Gilmore T.D., Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ireland; Edgars Rinkēvičs, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Latvia; Jean Asselborn, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg; Lilianne Ploumen, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, The Netherlands; Radoslaw Sikorski, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Poland; Miroslav Lajčák, Deputy-Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Slovakia; Karl Erjavec, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Slovenia; D. José Manuel García-Margallo y Marfil, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Spain; Didier Burkhalter, Federal Counsellor in charge of Foreign Affairs, Switzerland; Surapong Tovichakchaikul, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kingdom of Thailand.

A statement issued by his spokesperson in New York confirms that the Secretary-General, in his capacity of the depositary of the 1992 Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, yesterday received the formal instrument of accession to the treaty by Syria.

“The Convention will enter into force for [Syria] on the 30th day following the date of deposit of this instrument of accession, namely on 14 October 2013,” the statement says, adding that the Convention can be acceded to at any time and that the UN chief welcomes Syria’s decision.

In a separate statement released earlier yesterday, Ban welcomed the agreement reached by Russian Federation Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and United States Secretary of State John Kerry on a framework for the safeguarding and destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles.

Announcement of the deal came after three days of intense talks in Geneva, Switzerland, between Lavrov and Kerry. It culminates a week of diplomatic activity noted by the media, kicked off earlier by the announcement of Russia’s proposal for Damascus to surrender its chemical weapons and place them under international control.

On Thursday, a UN spokesperson confirmed that the Secretary-General had received a letter from the Damascus informing him that Syrian President Bassar Al-Assad planned to sign and abide by the Chemical Weapons Convention.

In the meantime, evidence collected by a UN team probing possible chemical weapons use in Syria on 21 August is being examined by laboratories in Europe. The team, which the Secretary-General has said is “working around the clock,” is expected to submit its report to him in due course.

In the statement issued yesterday, Ban looks forward to learning more of this framework agreed by Russia and the United States and pledges the support of the United Nations in its implementation.

“The Secretary-General expresses his fervent hope that the agreement will, first, prevent any future use of chemical weapons in Syria and, second, help pave the path for a political solution to stop the appalling suffering inflicted on the Syrian people,” says the statement.

As for talks on a political path out of the more than two year crisis, United Nations-Arab League Joint Representative Lakhdar Brahimi has been pressing ahead with his efforts towards the holding of a long-proposed international peace conference on Syria, commonly referred to as “Geneva II”, after the Swiss city in which it would be held.

On Friday, Brahimi hosted at UN Headquarters in Geneva talks with Lavrov and Kerry on the convening of the conference. In remarks to the press, the envoy said: “The work you are doing is extremely important in itself […] but also important for all those working with you to bring forward the Geneva conference successfully.”

At a press conference held at UN Headquarters in Geneva after the meeting, Mr. Brahimi spoke alongside Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and United States Secretary of State John Kerry. The two Government officials have been meeting in Geneva since Thursday discussing a Russian proposal for Syria to place its chemical weapons under international control.

“The work you are doing is extremely important in itself … but also important for all those working with you to bring forward the Geneva conference successfully,” Mr. Brahimi told reporters, referring to the long-proposed international peace conference on Syria commonly referred to as “Geneva II.”

Mr. Brahimi has been hard at work on the diplomatic front to bring the conference to fruition, including in discussions last week at the G20 Summit in St. Petersburg. The goal of a second Geneva conference would to be to achieve a political solution to the conflict through a comprehensive agreement between the Syrian Government and the opposition for the full implementation of the Geneva communiqué, adopted after the first international meeting on the issue on 30 June 2012.

In his comments, Mr. Kerry thanked the United Nations and Mr. Brahimi for hosting discussions on Geneva II. Those discussions have been productive and timely, as he and Mr. Lavrov were meeting on Russia’s recent initiative to “gain control of, remove and destroy chemical weapons in Syria and we would both agree that we have constructive conversations.”

“President is Obama is deeply committed to a negotiated solution and we know that Russia is likewise. We are working hard to find common ground to make that happen. We have both agreed to do homework required to make it happen,” Mr. Kerry said, announcing that he and Mr. Lavrov planned to meet in New York during the general debate of the UN General Assembly, which will open on 24 September.

While the two leaders would further consider the matter, including possibly settling on a date for the Geneva II conference, much of the way ahead “will depend on achieving success in the next hours and days” on the question of Syria’s chemical weapons, Mr. Kerry said.

“Both of us, Sergei Lavrov and I, our countries, our Presidents, are deeply concerned about the death toll and destruction and the acts on all sides that are creating more and more refugees, more and more of a humanitarian catastrophe,” he said, adding that the two Governments were committed to working together.

Speaking next, Mr. Lavrov said that now that Syria has signed the legislative decree providing for the accession of Syria to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, “we have to engage our professionals … and the United Nations to design a road so that the issue is resolved quickly, professionally as soon as practical.

“We are very glad that Mr. Brahimi has invited us to discuss a longer term goal for Syria, namely preparations for the so-called Geneva II conference. From the very beginning of the Syrian conflict, Russia and the Russian President have been promoting a peaceful resolution,” he said.

Mr Lavrov noted that Russia had initiated of the conference from which had emerged the Geneva communiqué agreed and signed “by nearly all the major players, including the United Nations, countries in the region and the P-5 [the permanent members of the Security Council].”

“It is very unfortunate that for a long period the communiqué was basically abandoned and we were not able to have Security Council endorsement of the very important document as is,” he said, thanking Mr. Kerry for his efforts to re-energize the communiqué and work with Russia towards its implementation including through the holding of a new Geneva conference. He said he was very grateful for the discussions with Mr. Brahimi.

Meanwhile, the President of the UN Human Rights Council, which is currently in session in Geneva, issued a letter to both Mr. Lavrov and Mr. Kerry drawing their attention o the work of the independent international commission of inquiry on Syria, which the Council established in 2011.

The Council President, Ambassador Remigiusz Henczel of Poland stressed that the commission had yet to be granted access to Syria, despite repeated calls on Damascus to allow the experts to enter the country. The Council President suggests that the Russian and US officials might take up the matter during the scope of their meetings in Geneva.

The commission presented its latest report to the Human Rights Council on Monday, citing ongoing incidents of murder, rape, torture, widespread attacks on civilians and hostage-taking committed by Syrian forces and anti-Government armed groups. It said that “the perpetrators of these violations and crimes, on all sides, act in defiance of international law. They do not fear accountability.”

The panel, which described Syria today as “a battlefield [where] massacres are perpetrated with impunity [and] and untold number of Syrians have disappeared,” reported that Government and pro-Government forces in Syria have continued to conduct widespread attacks on the civilian population with impunity, committing murder, torture, rape and enforced disappearance as crimes against humanity, stressed that there is no military solution to the conflict.

MEPs strongly condemn the mass killing of civilians with chemical weapons on 21 August 2013 in the outskirts of Damascus and urge that measures be taken to prevent any further use of chemical weapons in Syria or elsewhere. They say the UN Security Council must get the report of the UN inspection team as soon as possible and they also voice support for the proposal to hand the Syrian chemical weapons to international community for its destruction as soon as possible.

The international community’s ultimatum must be accompanied by a binding United Nations Security Council resolution, which, if not respected, could be imposed on the basis of “all the instruments provided for in the United Nations Charter”, MEPs underline.

Parliament says Russia and China must face their responsibility as permanent members of the Security Council to achieve a common position and a diplomatic solution to the Syrian crisis. In the event of a persistent blockage in the Security Council, the matter could be referred to the UN General Assembly, MEPs stress.

A lasting solution to the current crisis in Syria can be achieved only through an inclusive political process backed by the international community, MEPs say. They call for President Bashar Assad and his regime to step aside.

The EU must live up to its humanitarian responsibility and step up its assistance to Syrian refugees, MEPs say, urging all sides of the conflict to facilitate the provision of humanitarian aid and assistance.

“The Secretary-General welcomes, therefore, President Obama’s decision to take time to further explore this diplomatic opportunity to achieve this crucially important objective,” a UN spokesman said in New York.

Mr. Ban’s statement follows a flurry of diplomatic activity noted by the media in the past 72 hours, following a reported Russian proposal for Damascus to surrender its chemical weapons and place them under international control. In the meantime, evidence collected by a UN team probing possible chemical weapons use in Syria on 21 August is being examined by laboratories in Europe.

In a national address last night, US President Barack Obama cited “encouraging signs in recent days” and announced that he was sending US Secretary of State John Kerry to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva on Thursday for further talks, and that he would continue discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Both countries are permanent members of the UN Security Council – along with China France and the United Kingdom – which has been deadlocked over a solution to the 30 month crisis in Syria.

The UN chief welcomed the efforts by the Russian Federation to advance a possible agreement. “He hopes the US-Russian meetings later this week will be productive in moving toward a process for addressing the Syrian chemical weapons threat which all parties will be committed to,” the spokesperson said.

“The confirmed use of chemical weapons would be an outrageous crime for which there must be accountability and determined efforts to prevent any recurrence,” the statement said.

Speaking to UNTV ahead of the start of the conference, Mr. Ban said “the current situation caused by the allegation of chemical weapons use and deteriorating humanitarian situation in Syria urgently requires world leaders to focus their political will to address this issue”.

Mr. Brahimi, the Joint Special Representative of the UN and the League of Arab States for Syrian, arrived in the Russian city earlier today at Mr. Ban’s request.

The UN chief said that he had asked Mr. Brahimi to join him in St. Petersburg to press for the early convening of an international meeting on Syria to be held in Geneva with participation of senior Russian, United States and UN officials.

Mr. Brahimi said that the Syrian crisis had reached such an “urgent” stage that the Secretary-General thought it might be one of the questions to be addressed either by the G20 itself or on the margins of the summit.

“I’m sure it would be taken up in all the meetings the Secretary-General is going to have,” Mr. Brahimi told UNTV, adding that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov might organize a special meeting on Syria.

A UN spokesperson in New York today said the Secretary-General is attending the opening sessions of the summit. At the working dinner, Mr. Ban is expected to brief world leaders on developments in Syria. In his remarks, the Secretary-General is expected to outline the work of the UN chemical weapons investigation team and to explain why he asked Mr. Brahimi to join him in St. Petersburg.

Meanwhile, the biomedical and environmental samples collected by the by Swedish scientist Dr. Åke Sellström and his team at sites in Syria where chemical weapons were allegedly used on 21 August, had been sent to four laboratories in Europe.

Mr. Ban has called for the team to expedite the process, but to also be given every opportunity to complete its task, noting that the UN investigation is “uniquely placed to independently establish the facts in an objective and impartial manner” and to conduct its work strictly according to internationally recognized standards.

Ahead of the start of the Summit, Mr. Ban met on its sidelines with the President of the Republic of Korea, Park Geun-hye. In addition to discussing developments in Syria, Mr. Ban and Ms. Park discussed the Korean peninsula, in specific, ROK’s proposed world peace park in the Demilitarized Zone.

Mr. Ban also thanked Ms. Park for the country’s $6 million contribution to the UN World Health Organization (WHO) to assist children in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

In a meeting with the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Mr. Ban commended Kazakhstan’s long-standing constructive cooperation with the UN and the role it plays internationally in the context of nuclear non-proliferation and religious tolerance.

He and President Nazarbayev also discussed the situation in Syria, as well as the important roles played by the Organization, as well as Afghanistan and regional cooperation, on water management.

Also today, Mr. Ban discussed the situation of human rights in Russia with Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin. Mr. Ban said he appreciated the Ombudsman’s honest and useful evaluation of human rights challenges in the Russian Federation.

They discussed a number of the recommendations that arose from the most recent Universal Periodic Review, notably relating to the role of civil society, and the rights of people with disabilities and of the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

The Geneva-based Council’s Universal Periodic Review subjects each country’s human rights record to a State-led peer review on the basis of information submitted by the country concerned, UN entities, civil society and other stakeholders.

The Secretary-General encouraged the Ombudsman, together with the Russian authorities, to implement all recommendations.

Mr. Ban is at the G20 to also focus international attention on long-term global challenges, including the achievement of the eight anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), strengthening global economic recovery, and achieving a sustainable future.

“Putting off those challenges until tomorrow will only make them even more difficult and expensive to solve,” Mr. Ban said yesterday remarks at St. Petersburg State University.

The MDGs will be a focus at the high-level gathering of the General Assembly later this month at the UN Headquarters in New York.

Mr. Ban is expected to speak about the MDGs and the post-2015 sustainable development tomorrow in remarks to the G20.

The resolution passed by a vote of 10-7 , with one senator voting “present”.

The vote by the panel clears the way for a vote on the resolution in the full Senate, most likely next week, according to Reuters.

“We have high confidence that Syria used, in an indiscriminate fashion, chemical weapons that killed thousands of people, including over 400 children, and in direct violation of the international norm against using chemical weapons. That poses a serious national security threat to the United States and to the region, and as a consequence, Assad and Syria needs to be held accountable,” US president Barack Obama said in a statement before meeting with members of Congress on Syria.

“I’ve made a decision that America should take action. But I also believe that we will be much more effective, we will be stronger, if we take action together as one nation,” he added.

The resolution would authorize President Barack Obama to order a limited military operation on Syria that wouldn’t exceed 90 days and involve American troops on the ground, Al Arabiya reported.

Meanwhile, the United Nations refugee agency and senior Government ministers from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey – countries which together host more than 1.7 million Syrian refugees – called today on the international community to “overcome differences” to stop the fighting in Syria, as the made an urgent appeal for expanded assistance to the region.

“We are facing the dramatic escalation of the Syrian conflict, namely with the use of chemical weapons,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres said in an agreed statement with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Jordan’s Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, Lebanese Minister of Social Affairs Wael Abu Faour and Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

“A political solution to end this cycle of horror is “urgently needed,” Mr. Guterres and the ministers said: “There is no humanitarian solution to the Syrian crisis; rather there needs to be a political solution that ends the humanitarian crisis.”

The joint statement follows a half-day meeting chaired by Mr. Guterres with representatives of the four countries that host the majority of the 2 million refugees who have fled Syria since March 2011. And additional 4.25 million people are displaced within Syria, according to UN figures.

UNHCR and its partners in June appealed to donors for $4.4 billion for Syria relief operations this year, including $3 billion to meet humanitarian and host community needs in the immediate surrounding region. About 40 per cent of this component has been funded.

“Our experts are still on the ground investigating the use of chemical weapons,” Mr. Ban told journalists at Vienna City Hall, adding that the investigation team will continue its activities until tomorrow, leave Syria by Saturday morning and then inform him as soon as they are out.

The team led by Swedish scientist Dr. Ake Sellstrom, has been carrying out its work without incident following a pause in the investigation Tuesday, when its convoy was attacked by snipers while heading to the Damascus suburb of Ghouta, where chemical weapons were allegedly used on 21 August.

The shortened visit means the UN chief will not participate in the UN European Alpbach Forum, which will now be chaired by President Jose Manuel Barroso of the European Union.

Earlier today, Mr. Ban said he spoke by phone with United States President Barack Obama about how the United Nations, the US and the world can work together, as well as “how we can expedite the process of the investigation.”

Mr. Ban said he expressed his wish that the investigation team should be allowed to continue their work as mandated by the Member States to probe the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Government at Khan al-Asal and other claims.

“I told him that we will surely share the information and the analysis of samples and evidence with Members of the Security Council and UN members in general,” Mr. Ban said.

Also today, Mr. Ban discussed the investigation and the overall situation in Syria with Austrian President Heinz Fischer and Chancellor Werner Faymann.

“We are of the opinion that the situation should be resolved in a peaceful way through dialogue,” he told journalists after the meetings.

Mr. Ban and other senior UN officials, including Joint Special Representative of the UN and the League of Arab States Lakhdar Brahimi, have repeatedly urged pursuing all diplomatic options to bring the Syrian parties to the negotiating table, and stressed there is no military solution to the crisis.

In a joint press encounter last night with Minister of Foreign Affairs Frans Timmermans in the Netherlands, Mr. Ban said that his responsibility and mandate were “to conduct a thorough and complete investigation” of the allegations of chemical weapons use in Syria and any actions on a response would be deemed by the Security Council.

In response to speculation that the West is planning to take military action, Mr. Ban said he would not speculate on anything on which he is not aware, adding, “If there needs to be any such unilateral or military actions… as Secretary-General I would like to emphasize that it is the Charter that provides the framework for action to ensure international peace and security.”

Meanwhile, British lawmakers on Thursday voted against military intervention in Syria, in a major setback for both British Prime Minister David Cameron and the Obama administration in their push to punish the Assad regime for an alleged chemical weapons strike.  The measure was defeated, by 285 votes to 272 votes.

The outcome raises serious questions for Obama, who has not yet made a decision on the way forward in Syria but had indicated his administration would need international support for any strike.

Mr. Ban has reiterated that the use of chemical weapons by anyone, for any reason, under any circumstances are crimes against humanity and that must be held accountable.