Britain and France speak at UN Security Council

Britain and France have defended their contribution to military strikes on Syria last night as necessary to prevent the use of chemical weapons.

Britain's envoy to the UN, Karen Pierce, said it "cannot be illegal to use force to prevent the killing of such numbers of innocent people".

France's Ambassador Francois Delattre said there was "absolutely no doubt about the Assad regime's responsibility" for chemical weapons attacks last weekend in Douma.

The British ambassador called for a return to peace talks in Geneva, a complete end to the Syrian government's chemical weapons programme and said that those responsible for the use of chemical weapons must be held accountable.