DHAKA: US state secretary John Kerry is meeting Arab League leaders in Paris as part of a European tour to gather support for intervention in Syria.

Earlier Kerry said the number of nations prepared to take military action was now in ‘double digits’, but the list has not been made public.

France strongly supports intervention in response to the use of chemical weapons in Damascus last month.

But it wants to wait for a report by UN weapons experts before taking action.

From Paris, Kerry will travel to London where he will meet the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and British foreign secretary William Hague.

Meanwhile, inside Syria, there are reports that rebel forces have taken control of the historic Christian town of Maalula, north of Damascus.

Abdel Rahman, the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based activist group, told media that troops loyal to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad had withdrawn form the area.

BDST: 1747 HRS, SEPT 08, 2013
RoR/SRS