10 G20 Nations Join US In Blaming Assad For Attack

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — Ten members of the Group of 20 international economies joined the United States in accusing the Syrian government of carrying out a chemical weapons attack on civilians last month and called for a strong international response against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

A joint statement by the ten countries and the United States stopped short of explicitly calling for military action against the Syrian government, as President Obama is advocating.

But the tough language aligned half of the G20 members with Obama, who worked the sidelines of the summit to build international support for a limited U.S. military response. Obama is seeking congressional authority to launch a strike.

The countries are Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.