European urge US to await UN report
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VILNIUS, Lithuania - Skeptical European foreign ministers on Saturday urged the U.S. to delay possible military action against Syria until U.N. inspectors report on last month's suspected chemical weapons attack.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he would share his counterparts' concern with Obama administration officials. A senior State Department official who attended Kerry's meeting with the ministers said Kerry made clear that the U.S. has not made any decision to wait.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose details about the private meeting.
The U.S. blames the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad for the Aug. 21 attack in the Damascus suburbs and, citing intelligence reports, says sarin gas was used. The U.S. says 1,429 people died, including 426 children.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which collects information from a network of anti-regime activists, says it has so far only been able to confirm 502 dead.
European officials have questioned whether any military action against the Assad government can be effective.
Britain's Parliament has voted against military action. French President Francois Hollande displayed sudden caution Friday, saying for the first time that he would wait for the U.N. report before deciding whether to intervene militarily.
The report is expected later this month. Some European officials are asking the U.N. to speed up the investigation or issue an interim report.
France, which firmly backs the Syrian rebels and has strategic and historic interest in the region, had been ready to act last week but held off when President Barack Obama declared last weekend that he would seek the backing of Congress first.
Hollande's announcement appeared to catch French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius off guard.
Earlier Friday, Fabius told EU foreign ministers in Vilnius that there was no need to wait for the U.N. report because it would simply confirm what was already known - that the chemical weapons attack had occurred - but would not say who was responsible.
On Mideast peace negotiations, Kerry urged his EU counterparts to consider delaying putting in place a funding ban on Israeli institutions operating in occupied territories.
The EU decision, announced in July, marked a new international show of displeasure with Israeli settlements built on lands captured in the 1967 Mideast war.
The Palestinians claim some of those territories - the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem - for their hoped-for state.
The EU ban applies to grants, prizes and financial instruments and that the new funding guidelines go into effect in 2014. The EU issues dozens of grants, totaling millions of euros, to Israeli universities, companies and researchers every year.
Kerry was to leave for Paris later Saturday, where he planned to speak with representatives of Arab nations. Later in the weekend, he was scheduled to hold talks in London with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and British Foreign Secretary William Hague before returning to Washington.
