& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Syria hails US retreat

Congress battle looms; rebels slam US hesitation

Agencies
Syria hailed an "historic American retreat" yesterday, mockingly accusing President Barack Obama of hesitation and confusion after he delayed a military strike to consult Congress.
As Obama stepped back from the brink, France said it could not act alone in punishing President Bashar al-Assad over a chemical weapons attack, making it the last remaining top Western ally to hesitate about bombing Syria.
And in Cairo, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal urged Arab countries to back calls by the Syrian opposition for military action against the Damascus regime.
"Obama announced yesterday, directly or through implication, the beginning of the historic American retreat," Syria's official al-Thawra newspaper said in a front-page editorial.
The US president said on Saturday he would seek congressional consent before taking military action against Damascus for the August 21 attack which he blames on Assad's forces - a decision likely to delay any strike for at least nine days.
Assad, whose regime has faced an uprising since March 2011 that a watchdog said had claimed 110,000 lives, came out fighting yesterday.
"Syria... is capable of facing up to any external aggression just as it faces up to internal aggression every day, in the form of terrorist groups and those that support them," he said, as cited by state news agency SANA.
Syria continues to "record victory after victory", he added.
And Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Muqdad urged US lawmak-ers to show "wisdom" in their vote, while labelling Obama "hesitant, disappointed and confused".
Syria's opposition for its part expressed disappointment that Obama had put on hold his plans for military action, but said it was confident US lawmakers would green-light a strike.
"We were expecting things to be quicker, that a strike would be imminent... But we believe Congress will approve a strike," said Samir Nashar, a top official of the Syrian National Coalition.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry yesterday said he has evidence that the Syrian regime used sarin gas in an attack on its people.
"Blood and hair samples that have come to us through an appropriate chain of custody from east Damascus from first
responders - it has tested positive for signatures of sarin," Kerry told CNN.
The evidence - which was gathered independently of the United Nations -strengthens President Barack Obama's call for military action, he said.
Obama made his surprise announcement in a gamble that will test his ability to project American strength abroad and deploy his own power at home.
Republican and Democratic leaders may be expected to back the president's call for military action, but support among lawmakers, who have become increasingly restive in recent months, is by no means guaranteed.
With a vote not scheduled to take place until the week beginning 9 September, when members
return from recess, Obama faces days of intense political debate over the evidence of a chemical weapons attack perpetrated by the Syrian government and the rationale for military strikes with limited international support.
In a sign of the looming battle, the Republican senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, both hawks who have urged strikes on Syria, said they would use the vote to push for a more significant intervention than that proposed by Obama, who said that it should be "limited in duration and scope".
Most observers are predicting that a vote would see rebels on both Republican and Democratic sides.
Before Obama put on the brakes, the path had been cleared for a US assault. Navy ships were in place and
awaiting orders to launch missiles, and UN inspectors had left Syria after gathering evidence of a chemical weapons attack that US officials say killed 1,429 people in rebel-held areas.
The team has been trying to confirm whether a chemical attack took place. But it could take up to three weeks for the investigators to analyze the evidence. Even then, the team will only say whether chemical weapons were used - not who was responsible.
Some analysts say that if Assad goes unpunished, Iran will feel entirely free to press on with its nuclear programme. Tehran says this is peaceful but the West believes it wants to develop nuclear weapons. Any US failure to act might encourage Israel to take matters into its own hands, say analysts.