Britain's National Security Council has agreed unanimously that the world “should not stand by” after the “unacceptable” use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime, UK Prime Minister David Cameron said.

Nato must widen the target of air strikes in Libya to increase the pressure on the Gaddafi regime or risk allowing the dictator to cling to power, the head of the UK's armed forces said today.

BRITAIN and the United States planned to step up military pressure on Muammar Gaddafi, as the Libyan leader’s army pressed its bloody siege of the rebel-held city of Misrata.

A British government minister has today refused to rule out the deployment of British ground troops in Libya.