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Former UN weapons inspector Hans Blix today criticised the US, Britain and France for acting like “self-appointed global policemen”.

He claimed it would be “very unwise” to attack Syria and hit out at Barack Obama, suggesting he was considering military action only to avoid looking like a “paper tiger”.

Dr Blix said Mr Obama felt a need not to appear “hesitant and passive” and had been pushed to act by Syrian rebels. Writing in the Guardian, he said: “Such action could not be ‘in self-defence’ or ‘retaliation’, as the US, the UK and France have not been attacked.

“To punish the Assad government for using chemical weapons would be the action of self-appointed global policemen — action that, in my view, would be very unwise.”

Dr Blix accepted that evidence pointed to “the guilt of the Assad regime”. But he argued weapons inspectors should be given time to investigate chemical attacks and that nations should focus on finding a peaceful solution.