Syria Opposition Official Urges U.N. Action over Chemical Arms

Syria's opposition on Friday urged the U.N. Security Council to take immediate action after the United States said for the first time the regime probably used chemical weapons.

"It is time for the U.N. Security Council to act" on Syria, an official from the main opposition National Coalition told Agence France Presse.

The U.N. Security Council has been stalled over Syria for more than two years, with members Russia and China backing President Bashar Assad and vetoing several draft resolutions that would have imposed sanctions on the regime.

"This is a massive issue, and the Security Council's paralysis over Syria is no excuse," the Coalition official said.

"The U.N. needs to immediately investigate the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Should it find the regime used such weapons, it must act immediately, at least by imposing a no-fly zone," he added.

"If the Security Council cannot break its paralysis, proof of the use of chemical weapons by the regime would open the way for others, such as NATO, to act."

The National Coalition has accused the regime of using chemical weapons in the northern province of Aleppo, in Homs in the center of Syria and in rebel-held areas near Damascus.

On Thursday, the United States said for the first time that Syria had likely used chemical weapons against rebel forces, but emphasized spy agencies were still not 100 percent sure of the assessment.

U.S. intelligence services had been investigating reports that Assad's forces had used chemical arms -- a move President Barack Obama has said would cross a "red line.”

A senior White House official said "all options are on the table" should use of the weapons be confirmed, but a U.S. defense official stressed that a military intervention was not imminent and signaled spy agencies had differing opinions.

"Our intelligence community does assess with varying degrees of confidence that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in Syria," U.S. National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said.

A U.S. defense official said the phrase "varying degrees of confidence" is a term commonly used by the intelligence community to indicate disagreement among various agencies.