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Tieng Anh Vui
Speaking to the BBC's Jeremy Bowen, Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said terrorism would flourish everywhere if the US attacked Syria
French PM Jean-Marc Ayrault will present France's evidence that chemical weapons were used in Syria, when he meets parliamentary leaders on Monday.
The dossier is said to show that Syria has stockpiled more than 1,000 tonnes of chemical agents, including sarin.
French President Francois Hollande, like US President Barack Obama, wants punitive military action against Syria.
But there is growing pressure for a parliamentary vote on the issue, to be in line with the US and also Britain.
Analysis
Faisal Mekdad is considered to be a very influential man within the regime.
As you'd expect, the Syrian leadership is quite relishing where it is - it sees itself as eyeball to eyeball with the Americans.
Syrian leaders see their country as the vanguard of Arab nationalism, the bastion of resistance to Israel. So they're standing defiant right now.
I think they will continue their preparations to ride out an American strike.
Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad has told the BBC that any such military action would amount to "support for al-Qaeda and its affiliates".
He also said that armed groups backed by America - not Syrian troops - had used chemical weapons.
The alleged chemical attack took place on 21 August in the eastern suburbs of Damascus. The US says more than 1,400 people were killed, including 426 children.
French dossier
The US administration has already presented its case that the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad was behind the attack.
Now French Prime Minister Ayrault will present France's own intelligence dossier to his country's lawmakers.
"We are going to give the MPs everything we have - classified until now - to enable every one of them to take on board the reality of the unacceptable attack," Mr Ayrault said on Monday.
French MPs are due to debate the issue on Wednesday.
US lawmakers are due to reconvene next week, and White House officials have said that when it comes to a vote, they believe there will be enough support for the president.
Campaigning to convince people that military intervention is the right way forward has already begun in America, correspondents say.
By putting off an attack and seeking congressional approval, President Obama has taken the biggest gamble of his presidency, the BBC's North America editor Mark Mardell says.
He adds that it would be disastrous for the president if Congress does not back him, and his decision to call for a vote would look foolish.
In other developments:
- UN experts have gathered evidence in Syria to determine whether chemical weapons attacks have taken place - and they are now analysing samples
- Arab League foreign ministers urged the world community to "take the deterrent and necessary measures" against Syria. But several members - including Lebanon and Iraq - did not back the call
- Jordan - a key US ally in the region - ruled out joining any US-led coalition against Damascus
'Hatred for Americans'
US press reaction
- The New York Times says that by asking Congress for authorisation to retaliate against Syria, President Obama has put himself "at the mercy of an institution that has bedevilled his presidency for years".
- But Amy Davidson in the New Yorker praised Mr Obama's decision to go to Congress, saying "he may have just saved his second term from being consumed by Benghazi-like recriminations".
- The Chicago Tribune says Mr Obama "did what he needed to do, at considerable risk to his credibility".
- Henry Allen in the Washington Post examines why the US believes in fighting wars for virtuous reasons. "The good war, the virtuous war. We believe in it. We have to believe in it or we wouldn't be Americans."
Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad told the BBC's Jeremy Bowen in Damascus: "Any attack against Syria is support for al-Qaeda and its affiliates, whether Jabat al-Nusra or the State of Islam in Syria and Iraq."
Jabat al-Nusra and other groups linked to al-Qaeda have come to play a significant role in the fight against President Assad's government.
Mr Mekdad - considered to be highly influential within President Assad's government - also warned that possible US intervention would deepen "hatred for the Americans" and destabilise the whole Middle East.
He said that Mr Obama's surprise decision to seek congressional approval for strikes showed that he had not thought through all the "consequences".
But he added: "This did not change anything, since he [President Obama] is determined to launch an attack".
As for a vote in Congress, Mr Mekdad said it would base its decision on whether attacking Syria was in the interests of Israel.
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President Obama has taken the biggest gamble of his presidency”
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'Case is building'
US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday that Washington had evidence of sarin being used in the 21 August attacks.
He said samples from hair and blood gathered afterwards had "tested positive for signatures of sarin".
Mr Kerry implied that the US evidence was supplied by its own sources, rather than via the UN inspectors.
The US has previously said it had similar evidence of sarin use in other attacks.
Mr Kerry also said he was confident Congress would give its approval for the US to launch strikes against Syria.
Congressmen "will do what is right because they understand the stakes", he said, declining to explain whether Mr Obama would press ahead even if Congress voted against him.
However, some lawmakers have expressed doubts about Mr Obama's plan for a "limited, narrow" operation.
Sarin nerve agent
- Considered 20 times more deadly than cyanide
- Attacks the nervous system, often causing respiratory failure. Can cause death within minutes of exposure
- Difficult to detect as it is odourless, tasteless and colourless
- Syria is believed to have started producing it in the 1980s
- Among the agents used by the Iraqi government when it killed 5,000 Iraqi Kurds in Halabja in 1988
"I'm still very sceptical. It is not clear to me that we know what the results of this attack will be, meaning, will it be effective?" said Jim Himes, a Democratic member of the House of Representatives.
Syria is known to have extensive supplies of chemical weapons.
Mr Obama has often said that using them would cross a "red line", prompting US intervention.
Damascus has been fighting rebel forces since March 2011.
More than 100,000 people are estimated to have died in the conflict, and at least 1.7 million have become refugees.
Forces which could be used against Syria:
• Five US destroyers - USS Gravely, USS Ramage, USS Barry, USS Mahan and USS Stout - are in the eastern Mediterranean, equipped with cruise missiles. The missiles can also be fired from submarines, but the US Navy does not reveal their locations
• Airbases at Incirlik and Izmir in Turkey, and in Jordan, could be used to carry out strikes
• Two aircraft carriers - USS Nimitz and USS Harry S Truman are in the wider region
• French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is currently in Toulon in the western Mediterranean
• French Rafale and Mirage aircraft can also operate from Al-Dhahra airbase in the UAE
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