Obama faces growing calls to act over Syria gas attack allegations

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With his international credibility seen increasingly on the line, President Barack Obama on Thursday faced growing calls at home and abroad for forceful action against the Syrian government over accusations it carried out a massive new deadly chemical weapons attack.

While the White House said it was "appalled" by reports of hundreds of people gassed on Wednesday, it made clear any U.S. response would await confirmation of a chemical attack and again demanded that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad give U.N. inspectors immediate access to the site near Damascus.