UN disarmament chief pushes Damascus over access for inspectors

The United Nations disarmament chief arrived in Damascus Saturday to put pressure on the Syrian government to let U.N. experts investigate an alleged chemical weapons attack this week.

Angela Kane did not speak to reporters upon her arrival in the Syrian capital.

Syrian rebels have accused President Bashar al-Assad's regime of conducting a toxic gas attack Wednesday on the eastern suburbs of Damascus. The rebels have reported death tolls from 136 to 1,300, but the government says the claims are "absolutely baseless."

The U.S., Britain, France and Russia have urged the Assad regime and the rebels fighting to overthrow him to cooperate with the United Nations and allow U.N. experts already in Syria to look into the latest reports of chemical attacks. Each side has accused the other numerous times of using chemical weapons.

Kane's visit comes after U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon handed her the task and called for the Syrian regime and the rebels to cooperate with U.N. efforts to investigate into the alleged attacks.

While Kane presses the Syrian government for access, in Washington the Obama administration is weighing its options for a response should the U.N. determine Syria used chemical weapons, The New York Times reported Saturday.

Administration officials are studying the North Atlantic Treaty Organization air war on Kosovo in 1999 as a potential blueprint for responding to Syria without a mandate from the U.N., The New York Times said.

With Russia likely to block military action against Syria in the U.N. Security Council, President Barack Obama has said the United States would only respond without U.N. approval if there was a formidable international coalition involved.

“If the U.S. goes in and attacks another country without a U.N. mandate and without clear evidence that can be presented, then there are questions in terms of whether international law supports it, do we have the coalition to make it work?” Obama said Friday in an interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo.

Kosovo has some similarities to the Syrian crisis, with civilians killed and Russia having ties to the ruling government.

In March 1999, NATO launched a series of air strikes against Yugoslav forces that lasted 78 days, arguing that abuses there constituted a grave humanitarian emergency.

"It's a step too far to say we're drawing up legal justifications for an action, given that the president hasn't made a decision," a senior administration official told The New York Times, referring to Syria and speaking on condition of anonymity. "But Kosovo, of course, is a precedent of something that is perhaps similar."

Kosovo was one of many subjects under discussion regarding the Syrian crisis, the official said. The possible effects that a bombing campaign on Syria would have on countries like Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Egypt are also being studied, the official said.

Al Jazeera and wire services