NATO not to take part in Syria attack: NATO chief

COPENHAGEN - A Danish newspaper on Friday quoted NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen as saying that NATO will not take part in the possible attack against Syria in  response to alleged use of chemical weapons.

"I see no NATO role in an international reaction to the Syrian regime," Rasmussen told the Danish newspaper Politiken in the town of Vejle on Jutland Peninsula in western Denmark, where he is on a one-day trip to visit soldiers wounded in NATO operations in Afghanistan.

He said NATO's role will primarily be to support the member country Turkey and defend Turkey against any attack from Syria.

He believed that the Syrian regime was behind the chemical attack against civilians and called the attack as "a clear violation of international standards -- a crime that can't be ignored."

"I have no doubt that the regime carried out the chemical attack," Rasmussen added, "When you look at who has the chemical stocks and the means to use them in an attack, you have to say that it is the regime."

He stressed that NATO countries support the United Nation's investigation into the alleged attack. The inspectors have visited the scene of the August 21 suspected gas attack and are expected to leave Syria on Saturday.

The U.S. appears determined to push ahead with plans for air strikes against Syria, while Britain has backed down after the country's parliament had vetoed the government's belligerent position.