The UK is to put a resolution to the UN Security Council later on Wednesday "authorising necessary measures to protect civilians" in Syria.
The resolution will be put forward at a meeting of the five permanent members of the council, UK Prime Minister David Cameron said on Twitter.
Earlier a team of UN weapons inspectors resumed work probing an suspected chemical weapons attack on 21 August.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on the council to act together.
"The body interested with maintaining international peace and security cannot be 'missing in action'," Mr Ban said.
"The council must at last find the unity to act. It must use its authority for peace," he went on.
Mr Cameron said in another message: "We've always said we want the UN Security Council to live up to its responsibilities on Syria."
"Today they have an opportunity to do that," he said. The draft resolution would condemn the "chemical weapons attack by Assad", he added.
Mr Cameron will chair an emergency meeting of the UK's National Security Council at midday local time (11:00 GMT) to discuss possible responses to the crisis.
Meanwhile, in a briefing to journalists, joint UN-Arab League envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi said: "It does seem clear that some kind of substance was used... that killed a lot of people" on 21 August.
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Footage shows UN inspectors in Syria
But he emphasised that any military action needed Security Council authorisation.
'Further destabilisation'Russia and China have previously vetoed resolutions critical of Syria and may block any text deemed to approve military action.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that "attempts at a military solution will lead only to the further destabilisation" in Syria and the region.
Mr Lavrov emphasised the need for a political solution in a phone call to Mr Brahimi, the foreign ministry in Moscow said.
- Iraq 1991: US-led global military coalition, anchored in international law; explicit mandate from UN Security Council to evict Iraqi forces from Kuwait
- Balkans 1990s: US arms supplied to anti-Serb resistance in Croatia and Bosnia in defiance of UN-mandated embargo; later US-led air campaign against Serb paramilitaries. In 1999, US jets provided bulk of 38,000 Nato sorties against Serbia to prevent massacres in Kosovo - legally controversial with UN Security Council resolutions linked to "enforcement measures"
- Somalia 1992-93: UN Security Council authorised creation of international force with aim of facilitating humanitarian supplies as Somali state failed. Gradual US military involvement without clear objective culminated in Black Hawk Down disaster in 1993. US troops pulled out
- Libya 2011: France and UK sought UN Security Council authorisation for humanitarian operation in Benghazi in 2011. Russia and China abstained but did not veto resolution. Air offensive continued until fall of Gaddafi
Russia, China and Iran have previously warned against launching an attack on the war-ravaged country, where more than 100,000 people are thought to have died in two years of fighting.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Wednesday that US intervention would be a "disaster" for the region.
"The region is like a gunpowder store and the future cannot be predicted," Mr Khamenei said, according to Iran's Isna news agency.
Stocks have fallen on global markets and oil prices have shot up amid growing concern about an impending attack.
US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel told the BBC on Tuesday that the US military was ready to launch strikes should President Barack Obama order an attack.
Mr Cameron said the world could "not stand idly by", and French President Francois Hollande said France was "ready to punish" whoever was behind the attack.
Inspectors resume workThe team of inspectors resumed investigations after having called off work on Tuesday because of security concerns.
Mr Ban appealed for the team to be given "time to do its job".
He went on: "Give peace a chance. Give diplomacy a chance. Stop fighting and... start talking."
It is not clear which districts the inspectors will be visiting on Wednesday. On Monday, the team's convoy was shot at by unidentified snipers.
One of their cars came under fire from unidentified gunmen as it crossed the buffer zone between government and rebel-controlled areas.
After the incident, the team resumed their mission in the suburb of Muadhamiya, where they went to two hospitals and interviewed doctors and patients as well as witnesses of the suspected chemical attack. The inspectors took away biological and environmental samples for laboratory tests.
The Syrian government has strongly denied that it used chemical weapons and blames opposition fighters for the attack.
The US says it will release its own intelligence report into the incident in the Ghouta region surrounding Damascus the coming days.
| Country | Forces available for Syria strike |
|---|---|
| US | Four destroyers - USS Gravely, USS Ramage, USS Barry and USS Mahan - in the eastern Mediterranean, equipped with cruise missiles Cruise missiles could also be launched from submarines in the region Airbases at Incirlik and Izmir in Turkey could be used to carry out strikes Two aircraft carriers - USS Nimitz and USS Harry S Truman |
| UK | Cruise missiles could be launched from a British Trafalgar class submarine The Royal Navy's response force task group - which includes helicopter carrier HMS Illustrious and frigates HMS Montrose and HMS Westminster - is in the region on a previously-scheduled deployment Airbase in Cyprus could also be used |
| France | Aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is currently in Toulon. Raffale and Mirage aircraft can also operate from Al-Dhahra airbase in the UAE |
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