Kerry says west must not be ’silent spectators to the slaughter’

Barack Obama is keeping his options open and is yet to decide whether the US will delay possible military action against the Syrian government until after a United Nations report on the Assad regime's alleged chemical weapons attack, John Kerry said on Saturday.

The US secretary of state travelled to Europe on Friday for a three-day visit, aiming to boost international backing for a possible strike in retaliation for the suspected use of chemical weapons in Damascus on 21 August.

Kerry addressed reporters in Paris alongside Laurent Fabius, France's foreign minister. France has emerged as the US's key ally as it attempts to persuade the international community to support action against Syria.

While European Union foreign ministers issued a strongly-worded statement on Saturday, condemning the attack and suggesting there is "strong evidence that the Syrian regime is responsible", the EU said that military retaliation should not occur until the UN inspectors have delivered their report.

Kerry compared Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, to Saddam Hussein and Adolf Hitler, repeating his contentious claim, made earlier in the week, that the trio are the only leaders to have used chemical weapons since the Geneva Protocol against such methods was signed in 1925.

"This is our Munich moment. This is our chance to join together and pursue accountability over appeasement," Kerry said on Saturday, in a reference to the Munich Agreement between Nazi Germany and Europe's leading powers. He added: "This is not the time to be silent spectators to slaughter … this is not the time to allow a dictator unfettered use of some of the most heinous weapons on earth."

Kerry insisted that intervention in Syria was vital to American security. He sought to assuage concerns that it could lead to a lengthy and difficult campaign by saying that any military action would be "targeted and limited but clear and effective" and would not involve "boots on the ground". He said: "We are not talking about going to war, this is not Iraq and it's not Afghanistan. It's not even Libya or Kosovo."

Asked about Obama's stance towards the UN inspectors, Kerry said: "The president of the United States has made no decision. I will return to Washington and obviously this will be a point of discussion but we take that decision under advisement."

Obama is seeking congressional approval for a strike, with US lawmakers set to vote later this month.

The president will give interviews on Monday to the three network news anchors, as well as to anchors from PBS, CNN, and Fox, more evidence of a "full court press" strategy ahead of pivotal congressional votes on military strikes in Syria.

The interviews will be taped on Monday afternoon and will air during each network's Monday evening news broadcast, the White House said.

Obama will make a nationally televised address on Tuesday.

Kerry is also using his brief trip to hold talks on the Middle East peace process. During a meeting with EU foreign ministers in Lithuania earlier on Saturday, he urged the EU to put off a planned ban on financial assistance to Israeli organisations working in the occupied Palestinian territories, according to Reuters.

Rather than issue punitive measures, Kerry asked the ministers to find ways to encourage Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, which resumed in July.

On Sunday, he is scheduled to meet representatives of Arab nations in Paris and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, in London.