The Obama administration said Wednesday it would take action against the Syrian government even without the backing of allies or the United Nations because diplomatic paralysis must not prevent a response to the alleged chemical weapons attack outside the Syrian capital last week.

New requests for the United Nations to authorize military action in Syria may have complicated the Obama administration's plan to take retaliatory action on the purported poison gas attack east of Damascus that U.S. officials claim was carried out by President Bashar Assad's forces.

Syria, which sits on one of the world's largest stockpiles of chemical weapons, has denied the charges. Moreover, Syria's U.N. ambassador, Bashar Ja'afari, is demanding that United Nations experts investigate three alleged chemical weapons attacks against Syrian soldiers.

He said the attacks occurred on Aug. 22, 24 and 25 in three suburbs of the Syrian capital and dozens of soldiers are being treated for inhaling nerve gas.

The CIA and the Pentagon have been working to gather more human intelligence tying Assad to the attack, relying on the intelligence services of Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Israel, the officials said.

Both the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency have their own human sources - the rebel commanders and others who cross the border to brief CIA and defense intelligence officers at training camps in Jordan and Turkey.

But their operation is much smaller than some of the other intelligence services, and it takes longer for their contacts to make their way overland.

【新聞快訊】

美國總統(tǒng)奧巴馬在23日播出的電視專訪中說，敘利亞內(nèi)戰(zhàn)已牽涉到美國“核心國家利益”，他將盡快就敘利亞問題作出決定。與此同時，美國媒體報道，美國防部、國務(wù)院和情報部門已就對敘采取緊急措施展開計劃。他表示，軍事干涉敘利亞內(nèi)戰(zhàn)必須慎重，如果沒有聯(lián)合國授權(quán)，美國攻擊另一個國家將面臨國際法方面的障礙。

據(jù)悉，敘反對派指責(zé)政府軍21日使用含有沙林毒氣的火箭彈襲擊首都大馬士革姑塔東區(qū)，造成眾多人員死亡。而敘利亞政府軍則指責(zé)該事件系反對派所為。

一名五角大樓高官說，美軍艦可在數(shù)小時內(nèi)發(fā)動對敘利亞的攻擊。奧巴馬政府官員說，白宮已排除依“伊拉克模式”直接出兵和依“利比亞模式”設(shè)定限飛區(qū)的打算，發(fā)動導(dǎo)彈襲擊成為最可能選項。

敘利亞外長穆阿利姆27日召開新聞發(fā)布會，稱不相信包括美國在內(nèi)的西方國家會對敘利亞實施軍事打擊。

穆阿利姆說，美國政府可能只是通過散布即將實施軍事打擊的言論來對敘利亞政府施壓，從而獲取敘方更大的讓步。他同時指出，盡管不認為西方會實施軍事打擊，但敘利亞已做好盡全力保衛(wèi)國家的準(zhǔn)備。