France has said that the international community would need to respond with force if allegations that Syrian government forces had carried out a mass chemical attack on civilians proved to be true, reports The Guardian.
But the French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, said there was no question of sending troops on the ground, in an interview with the television network BFM.
He added that if the UN security council could not make a decision, one would have to be taken "in other ways." He did not elaborate.
Hundreds of people are believed to have been killed in an apparent gas attack on rebel-held parts of eastern Damascus that is thought to be the most significant use of chemical weapons since thousands of Kurds were gassed by Saddam Hussein in Halabja 25 years ago.
Medics, as well as opposition fighters and political leaders, said the death toll had reached 1,400 and was likely to rise further with hundreds more critically wounded in districts besieged by the Syrian military. Other estimates put the current death toll at between 200 and 500. None of the figures could be independently verified.
On Thursday morning, rebels said new bombardments of rockets and mortars struck neighbourhoods hit by the gas attack.
Read more of this report from The Guardian.