US wants appropriate action in Syria even without UN backing
A group said to have close ties to the Syrian military, called the Syrian Electronic Army, have claimed responsibility for a crash that took down the New York Times website for the second time in two weeks. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports.
By Jim Miklaszewski, Courtney Kube and Keir Simmons, NBC News
Following a meeting of a divided U.N. Security Council Wednesday over the crisis in Syria, U.S. officials said the group won’t be able to reach consensus on Syrian action because the Russian delegation continues to block any resolution.
“This issue is dead. The Russians won’t budge,” one U.S. official told NBC News.
The five countries with permanent seats on the council held the preliminary meeting at the United Nations to discuss a resolution drafted by Britain that would condemn the use of chemicals and authorize “necessary measures” to protect Syrian civilians.
Russia and China, which have veto power, have warned the United States not to bypass the U.N. and strike Syria. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said U.N. inspectors need more time to assess whether the forces of Syrian leader Bashar Assad used poison gas in an attack last week that opposition groups say left hundreds of civilians dead.

"We know they [the Russians] don’t have intentions to support any meaningful actions by the Security Council. President Obama has been clear that we're not going to be held hostage to these kind of games,” a senior official said after the U.N. meeting. “We need an appropriate response to this egregious action by Syria."
The official added, "There is no play here -- the Russians and the Chinese even blocked a vote last week on a non-binding resolution that condemned the use of chemical weapons — even though they had voted for the same language in the G-8."
U.S. officials indicated that Wednesday’s meeting was called by Britain to satisfy domestic concerns in advance of Thursday's special debate in that country’s parliament.
The U.S. administration's view is that the U.N. investigation comes too late to produce credible results.
Syrian Ambassador to United Nations, Bashar Ja'afari, comments on the reports of chemical weapons use by President Assad, saying "the Syrian government is totally innocent of these accusations."
"We've consistently said that we support U.N. Security Council action. My understanding is that today we heard nothing different from the Russians in today's meeting than we have for months and indeed years about Syria,” said State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf.
Harf signaled that the U.S. will not wait for U.N. action. "We cannot be held up in responding by Russia's intransigence -- continued intransigence at the United Nations. That, quite frankly, the situation is so serious that it demands a response," she said.
And in the United States, members of Congress raised questions about the Obama administration’s strategy, demanding that the White House seek congressional approval.
An American official who spoke to NBC News said the U.S. strikes against Syrian targets appear inevitable and are expected “within days.”
Pentagon officials told NBC News that Navy destroyers, plus two American and one British submarine, were in position in the Mediterranean Sea and ready to launch Tomahawk missiles if President Barack Obama gives the order.
A fifth Navy destroyer has entered the Mediterranean on a scheduled swap with one of the four other destroyers but is not expected to take part in the missile strikes.
There was speculation that the U.S. might wait until after the U.N. inspectors are out of Syria. They are not expected to leave until Monday. But one senior U.S. official said that the strikes could easily be carried out without putting the inspectors in danger.