Kuwait called Thursday for international "deterrent" action against Syria following an alleged chemical attack near Damascus last week.

A government statement urged the international community "to assume its moral responsibility towards the crimes committed in Syria and take practical deterrent measures to prevent" new attacks.

The statement comes as the United States and Britain laid out their case for punitive military strikes against Damascus over the alleged August 21 chemical attack.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon has appealed for the West to give peace a chance, saying arms inspectors on the ground in Syria would report back to him by Saturday on their probe into the alleged attack.

Rights groups say hundreds of people were killed, including children, when poisonous gas was unleashed on suburbs of Damascus last week.

The Syrian opposition has blamed regime forces for the attack but the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad blamed rebels.

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