Jordan says will not allow any attack on Syria from its soil -...

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United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has pleaded for a diplomatic solution to the Syrian conflict, even as world powers appear to be moving toward punitive military strikes against President Bashar Assad's regime for what the United States and its allies say was a deadly chemical weapons attack.

Ban said Wednesday a United Nation team investigating the alleged chemical attack must be given time to establish the facts.

And he has urged the United Nations Security Council not to be "missing in action" as the Syria crisis deepens. Ban was speaking in the Great Hall of Justice at the Peace Palace in The Hague, which is marking its 100th anniversary.

"Give peace a chance. Give diplomacy a chance. Stop acting and start talking," he said. On another note, Ban said "United Nations inspectors should be given time to determine whether forces have used chemical weapons in Syria's civil war."

The United Nations inspectors reached rebel-held territory outside Damascus on Wednesday, opposition activists said, and would soon begin a second day of investigating the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack that killed hundreds of people.

The inspectors need four days to conclude their investigation and time to analyze the findings Ban said.

"Let them conclude their work for four days, and then we will have to analyze scientifically with experts and then I think we will have to report to the Security Council for any actions."

Later in the day, a Reuters witness said the UN team of chemical weapons experts returned to their hotel in central Damascus after inspecting the scenes of an apparent poison gas attack on several suburbs outside the Syrian capital last week.

Opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said his forces used rockets loaded with poison gas in the middle of a fierce offensive on the Damascus outskirts, with activists putting the death toll between 500 and more than 1,000. Assad denies the charges.

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British Foreign Secretary William Hague called on Wednesday for the United Nations Security Council to try to stop the bloodshed in Syria by agreeing a UK-backed resolution to take "necessary measures" there to protect civilians.

Earlier, Britain's National Security Council unanimously backed action against Syria in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack, Prime Minister David Cameron said on Wednesday, a day after he set out the case for a targeted military strike.

"The NSC agreed unanimously that the use of chemical weapons by Assad was unacceptable - and the world should not stand by," Cameron said on his official Twitter feed after a meeting of the high-level security body.

PM Cameron said that Britain will put a draft resolution to the UN Security Council condemning attacks by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and authorizing 'necessary measures' to protect civilians from chemical weapons.

The resolution will be put to the Security Council in New York later on Wednesday, a spokesman for Cameron said in a statement.

This as, NATO's Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said information from a variety of sources pointed to President Bashar al-Assad's forces being responsible for the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

Speaking after a meeting of NATO ambassadors in Brussels, Rasmussen said any use of such weapons was "unacceptable and cannot go unanswered", although he did not suggest any response.

Meanwhile, a Jordanian government spokesman said Jordan will not be used as a launching pad for attacks on Syria and the kingdom favors a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

The remarks come a day after Jordan hosted a meeting of top commanders from Western and Middle Eastern countries, including some that are likely to participate in a military action.

On another note, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Iraq has put its security forces on high alert ahead of an expected international strike on Syria.

In the same context, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkey has put its armed forces on alert to guard against threats from Syria as Western allies weigh possible military action against President Bashar al-Assad.

In turn, the Interfax news agency quoted Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov as saying the UN Security Council should wait for inspectors to present their report on an alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria before considering a response.

Meanwhile, the French government spokesperson said the French parliament will hold an extraordinary session on Wednesday to discuss the situation in Syria.

This as, Germany urged states, especially Russia, to support a British draft resolution to the UN Security Council condemning attacks by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and authorizing 'necessary measures' to protect civilians.

For his part the international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said that any U.S. military action taken in response to apparent chemical weapons attacks in Syria would need to be approved by the U.N. Security Council.

Russia told Brahimi that attacking Syria to punish the government for the alleged use of poison gas would destabilize the country and the region, Foreign Ministry Sergei Lavrov said.

Russia had evacuated dozens of its citizens from Syria as the country's foreign minister warns that a military intervention by the U.S. and its allies would destabilize the region.

As for Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, he said the U.S. intervention in Syria would be "a disaster for the region", the ISNA state news agency reported.

Momentum is building for Western military action against Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime over the purported Aug. 21 chemical attack which the group Doctors Without Borders says killed 355 people.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said there was "undeniable" evidence of a large-scale chemical attack likely launched by Assad's regime. His comments earlier this week laid out the clearest argument yet for U.S. military action in Syria.

REUTERS/AP