US president says world powers must act on regime's "barbarism" as Russian counterpart warns against unilateral action.
Barack Obama, the US president, has said the international community cannot remain silent in the face of the "barbarism" of the Syrian regime's alleged use of chemical weapons.
Obama told a news conference on Wednesday that "failing to respond to this attack would only increase the risk of more attacks and that possibility that other countries would use these weapons, as well."
The US president was speaking during a visit to Sweden ahead of the forthcoming G20 meeting in St Petersburg, Russia.
"I discussed our assessment and [Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt] and we are in an agreement that in the face of such barbarism the international community cannot be silent," he said.
He added that he hoped his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, would change direction on a military intervention in Syria. Russia is Syria's biggest international ally.
"I'm always hopeful ... Ultimately, we can end deaths much more rapidly if Russia takes a different approach to these problems," he said.
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