Syria conflict

After an alleged chemical attack killed approximately 1,400 people near Damascus, international attention turned toward anticipated responses from nations and activist groups. US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said the US was ready to strike at the president’s order, and Syria has asserted it will defend itself using “all means available’’ in the event of a strike. The Syrian regime under President Bashar Assad has denied the use of chemical weapons and a Russian representative said there was no proof the Syrian government was behind the attack.

Pictured: A heavily damaged street in Syria’s eastern town of Deir Ezzor on Aug. 26. Syria’s opposition accused pro-regime forces of opening fire at United Nations weapons inspectors on their way to a suspected chemical weapons site outside Damascus in a bid to hinder their investigation.

The secretary-general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon gave a speech in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands on Aug. 28 and pleaded for a diplomatic solution to the conflict in Syria.

Free Syrian Army fighters escorted a convoy of UN vehicles carrying a team of chemical weapons experts at one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Damascus suburb of Zamalka on Aug. 28. The team determined some kind of chemical “substance’’ was used.

Free Syrian Army fighters escorted the UN experts to one of the sites.

Hagel said evidence pointed to Syria’s use of chemical weapons and said forces had been deployed and President Obama had reviewed military options.

President Francois Hollande said France was prepared to take action against those responsible for the alleged gassing in Syria. Britain has recalled Parliament for discussion on possible military response, and the German government has suggested it would back a response if it is confirmed that Assad’s troops attacked opponents with chemical weapons. The Arab League has expressed its belief that the Syrian government is to blame for the attack.

Pictured: The guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg (left) and the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman transited the Strait of Gibraltar on Aug. 3 on their way to the Mediterranean Sea.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem spoke during a press conference in Damascus on Aug. 27. Muallem said the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad, which has been fighting an insurgency for the past 29 months, had defenses that would “surprise” the world.

A UN team tasked with probing the use of chemical weapons in Syria left their hotel in a convoy. A UN spokesman said snipers opened fire on the vehicle, and the team has now delayed their mission a day. Syria announced on Aug. 25 that it had reached an agreement with the UN to give access to the inspectors to investigate the use of chemical weapons.

The head of UN inspectors, Professor Ake Sellstrom, and Angela Kane, the representative on the United Nations for Disarmament Issues, left the Four Seasons hotel in Damascus on Aug. 27.

Free Syrian Army fighters sat atop a tank that belonged to forces loyal to Syria’s President Bashar Assad. They held up their weapons and cheered after seizing Aleppo’s town of Khanasir on Aug. 26. Rebel forces took control of the strategic town in northern Syria, killing more than 50 pro-government fighters and cutting off government forces’ only supply route out of the city of Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Free Syrian Army fighters inspected munitions and a tank that belonged to forces loyal to Syria’s President Bashar Assad.

UN chemical weapons experts visited a hospital where wounded people affected by an apparent gas attack were being treated in the southwestern Damascus suburb of Mouadamiya on Aug. 26.

Free Syrian Army fighters sat on a sofa as one of them inspected his weapon in Aleppo’s Saif al-Dawla district.

Men searched for survivors amid the rubble of collapsed buildings after what activists said was shelling by forces loyal to Syria’s President Bashar Assad in Aleppo’s Fardous neighborhood on Aug. 26.

A Free Syrian Army fighter handled weapons on one of the battle fronts in Jobar, Damascus.