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鈥� A daily summary of global reports on security issues.

United Nations weapons inspectors were forced to turn back from visiting the site of an alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria after their vehicles came 听辞苍听惭辞苍诲补测.听

The incident is a setback for those hoping the inspectors would provide a more objective determination on whether the Assad regime had in fact gassed its own people. Russia and Iran have been insisting there is not enough proof that the regime was behind the chemical weapons attack last week, and continue to urge restraint in any international response.聽

But other international players are already saying there is little doubt, laying the groundwork for an intervention in Syria without the approval of the United Nations Security Council, which Russia has thwarted.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said today that Britain and its allies did not need the unanimous approval of council members, insisting that a response would be 鈥渂ased on great humanitarian need and distress鈥� and would not violate international law.

鈥淚s it possible to respond without complete agreement on the Security Council? I would argue yes it is,鈥� , according to the BBC. 鈥淥ther countries including France are very clear that we can鈥檛 allow the idea that chemical weapons in the 21st century can can be used with impunity.鈥�

The divided council has not 鈥渟houldered its responsibilities,鈥� he said, insisting that if it had been united, there would have been a 鈥渂etter chance of bringing this conflict to an end a long time ago.鈥�

The insistent, widespread push for an intervention 鈥� after more than two years in which international parties largely urged and pursued policies of restraint 鈥� emerged abruptly after an attack on the Damacus suburb of Ghouta last week. According to the opposition, the attack left some 1,300 dead. International humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said it treated more than 3,000 people for symptoms The New York Times reports. More than 300 of those people died.

Now , even before UN inspectors could spend time at the scene of last week's attack today, Bloomberg reports.

UK Foreign Secretary said Britain is convinced Assad was behind the attack and that there was agreement with the US and on the need to respond. 鈥檚 Foreign Minister said his country will join a 鈥渃oalition鈥� against if the UN fails to act.

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As inspectors started their investigation of some of the areas allegedly targeted, 鈥檚 Minister of Intelligence said the use of chemicals was 鈥渃lear,鈥� while French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said it was 鈥渙bvious鈥� the weapons had been used and that the 鈥渕assacre鈥檚 origin comes from the regime of Bashar al-Assad.鈥�

Iran, the only regional ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad other than Hezbollah, warned that Israel could become "the victim" if international parties attacked Syria, according to Bloomberg.聽聽

鈥淲hat happened in Syria five days ago is beyond our worst imagination 鈥撀爐he use of chemical weapons as weapons of mass destruction,鈥� Yuval Steinitz, Israel's minister of strategy, told journalists today at a Jerusalem briefing. 鈥淭he world can鈥檛 allow this to happen. The world can鈥檛 allow this to proceed.鈥�

, Mr. Assad flatly denied the accusations, Reuters reports.

"Would any state use chemical or any other weapons of mass destruction in a place where its own forces are concentrated? That would go against elementary logic," Assad told Izvestia.

"So, accusations of this kind are entirely political and the reason for them is the government forces' series of victories over the terrorists," he said, referring to rebels fighting in the two-year-old civil war.

But Britain, for one, has no doubt that the Syrian regime used chemical weapons, according to McClatchy:

鈥淲e are clear in the British Government that it was the Assad regime that carried out this 鈥� large-scale chemical attack, last Wednesday that has led to the 鈥�agonizing deaths of so many hundreds of people, including, tragically, so many children,鈥� British Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement Sunday. 鈥淭he eyewitness accounts, the fact this area was under bombardment by the regime forces at the time that the chemical attack took place. It all points in that direction to the responsibility of the regime.鈥�

Invoking the principle of the "responsibility to protect," the foreign minister of Kosovo urged in a column for Foreign Policy . A NATO intervention in the Balkans in 1999 brought an end to a bloody ethnic cleansing campaign there, and has been cited repeatedly in the last few days by proponents of an international intervention.聽

It's time for something new in Syria. Or rather, it's time for an old idea that has worked before.

The NATO intervention in Kosovo in 1999 serves as a model for our allies in the West and the Arab world to end Syrian suffering. Back then, humanitarian intervention by the international community not only brought an end to ethnic cleaning, but it also showed that the classical idea of state sovereignty cannot be used as a shield to justify repressive policies and crimes against humanity.

The intervention in Kosovo also affirmed that, even without the mandate of the U.N. Security Council, countries should act to prevent regimes from abusing human rights. As a country that today enjoys freedom and democracy thanks to NATO action, we are strong supporters of the idea that sovereignty is not a right, but a responsibility. Speaking from experience, the time has come for the international community to offer protection to the people of Syria.