The United States says it's taking a fresh look at whether to arm Syria's rebels after the Damascus regime attacked opposition forces in the embattled city of Homs last night, killing over 100 people including women and children.
After having rejected the idea previously, the US president Barack Obama is now said to be considering the option of providing weapons to Syria's outgunned opposition.
Asked whether the US government was rethinking its opposition to arming the rebels, the US defense secretary Chuck Hagel replied with a firm "Yes."
But Hagel said no decision had been reached and declined to offer his own view on the matter, saying he was "in favor of exploring options and seeing what is the best option in coordination with our international partners."
Asked about Hagel's comments later, Obama said they represented the view he has expressed for "months."
"As we've seen evidence of further bloodshed, potential use of chemical weapons inside of Syria, what I've said is that we're going to look at all options," the president told a press conference in Mexico.
But, Obama added, "we want to make sure that we look before we leap and that what we're doing is actually helpful to the situation, as opposed to making it more deadly or more complex."
Hagel's comments came at a joint press conference with his British counterpart Philip Hammond, who said Britain had not ruled out arming the rebels or other military options.
But Hammond said his government had to abide by a European Union ban on sending weapons to the opposition, adding that Britain would "look at the situation" when the ban expires in a few weeks.
Both men said their governments wanted to see a political solution to the two-year-old conflict, but the diplomatic effort appeared on the verge of another setback with signs that peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi was poised to quit.
The permanent Security Council members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - have all been urging Brahimi to stay in the post he took up in August after former UN leader Kofi Annan quit, diplomats said.
Brahimi's expected departure reflects frustration with deadlocked international efforts to end the civil war, which the United Nations estimates has killed well over 70,000 people.
Washington revealed last week that it thought President Assad had used chemical weapons - but said the intelligence wasn't clear enough.
