The escalating civil war in Syria will be the focus of an emergency debate in the House of Commons this evening.

M-Ps will discuss the recent Israeli air strikes and indications that Syria’s Assad regime is using chemical weapons against rebel forces.

The debate comes as Assad’s regime has given a Palestinian militant group the go-ahead to set up missiles to attack Israel.

Syria has threatened retribution against Israel after the Jewish state carried out the air strikes over the weekend.

U-S  President Barack Obama says there are no easy answers to resolving the civil war in Syria and says he doesn’t make decisions based on perceptions.

The Obama administration has been seeking further evidence about claims that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons on its citizens.

Russia and the United States are pledging to push the Assad regime and Syrian rebels into talks on a political transition.

They say they’ll convene a new international conference later this month to build on a transition plan they set out last year in Geneva.