NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Wednesday that the threat of military action should remain on the table to make Syria keep its promises on giving up chemical weapons.

Speaking after he met British Prime Minister David Cameron in London, Rasmussen welcomed the recent US-Russian agreement under which the Assad regime says it will give up its poison gas stocks.

Damascus said earlier Wednesday it was confident the UN Security Council will not adopt a resolution on its chemical weapons under Chapter VII, which could allow the use of force.

But Rasmussen said: "I would expect the Syrian regime to fully comply with the demands of the international community and in the case of non-compliance we will need a very firm international response."

"I do believe that the credible threat of military action was the reason why diplomacy got a chance and I think in order to keep momentum in the diplomatic and political process the military option should still be on the table," he told reporters in Downing Street.

The alliance chief said it was "crucial that the UN Security Council expeditiously adopts a firm resolution that can constitute the framework for a swift, secure and verifiable elimination of all chemical weapons in Syria".

Rasmussen said the use of chemical weapons "is a crime, is a violation of international law and those responsible must be held accountable".

US President Barack Obama threatened military action against Syria following an August 21 chemical weapons attack on a Damascus suburb that allegedly killed hundreds of people, but held off after the US-Russian deal.

The United States, France and Britain want compulsory measures under Chapter VII of the UN Charter if Syria does not uphold the disarmament plan.

But Russia, a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is firmly opposed to anything that could pave the way for the use of force.

France hits back at Russia in Syria chem weapons row
Paris (AFP) Sept 18, 2013 - France on Wednesday dismissed a claim by Russia that a UN report on the use of chemical weapons in Syria was biased, as a row over its contents escalated.

"Nobody can question the objectivity of the people (inspectors) appointed by the UN," Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told a press conference.

"I'm very surprised by the Russian attitude," he added.

Fabius was speaking after talks with his Spanish counterpart Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo here against a background of claims and counter-claims related to an August 21 chemical attack which triggered Western threats of military action against the Syrian regime.

Russia said on Wednesday that Syria had given it evidence implicating anti-government rebels in the attack, which Britain, France and the United States have blamed on the forces of President Bashar al-Assad.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the UN report on the attack that was published on Monday was selective in its assessment of the evidence and had ignored other incidents of chemical weapons use.

"Without a full picture... we cannot describe the character of the conclusions as anything other than politicised, biased and one-sided," he said.

Fabius responded: "The report cannot be seriously contested. It shows that the regime had and still has an significant chemical arsenal and that it used it."

A senior French official said Fabius had delivered a similar message to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov during talks in Moscow on Tuesday.

The Russians did not think "for one second" that the August 21 attack was the work of anyone other than the regime forces, the official said, adding that Moscow was determined to sow confusion to help delay a UN Security Council resolution being prepared in reaction to Monday's report.

Garcia-Margallo said Spain wanted to see a binding Security Council resolution on Syria adopted as possible.