Syria official 'flying to Britain'

The reported flight to the UK of Syria's foreign ministry spokesman is being investigated by UK officials.

A Foreign Office spokesman said it was aware of claims. attributed to Lebanese security officials, that Jihad Makdissi had taken a flight to Britain.

It remained unconfirmed whether Mr Makdissi, previously the spokesman for the Syrian embassy in London, had defected from Bashar al-Assad's regime.

He was a prominent public defender of the Damascus government's response to the 20-month uprising but was reported to have been sacked.

The reports emerged as the United Nations announced it was withdrawing all "non-essential international staff" from Syria amid deteriorating security conditions.

And the US issued fresh warnings to the regime against using chemical weapons after a senior US defence official warned that movements of components had recently been detected.

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton echoed President Barack Obama's caution that such action would cross a "red line" for the United States and prompt action, though she did not specify what.