The pledge came as President Obama launched a hard-hitting media campaign in favour of military action.
President Bashar al-Assad even hinted that Russia and Iran may get involved when he told an American journalist that there would be “retaliation by those aligned with Syria”.
The threat came in an American CBS show yesterday called Face the Nation which promised the full interview this week between Assad and interviewer Charlie Rose, recorded in Damascus
Assad repeated denials that he was behind the chemical weapons attack on his own people,
And Rose, speaking by phone, said Assad would neither confirm nor deny whether Syria had chemical weapons.
Assad warned that if there was a military strike by the US, Syria was as prepared as it could be. Assad also admitted fearing the attack might degrade his military and tip the balance in the civil war. Rose said Assad had a message for the American people that they should not get involved in another conflict in the region.
Meanwhile 13 graphic videos of dying men, women and children allegedly gassed by Assad are being shown in America – to persuade the country to back an attack on Syria.
President Barack Obama wants the officially-authorised images to bring home the horror before a series of crucial votes to authorise a bombing campaign.
He has asked the Senate and House of Representatives – the US versions of the Lords and House of Commons– to sign off a military blitz on President Assad’s forces.
But the vote is in the balance after widespread opposition.
So Mr Obama is planning a media blitz today and promised Americans in his weekly address that the war would “not be another Iraq or Afghanistan”.
US intelligence officials are said to have verified the footage of the August 21 chemical weapons attack in Damascus.
They show the panic that sets in as people began experiencing the effects of chemical nerve agents, including sarin gas, which can cause convulsions, respiratory failure and death. In one video, there’s a room apparently full the lifeless bodies of dozens of children. In another, men are seen foaming at the mouth, suffering convulsions.
Up to 1,429 people were killed in the Damascus attack, including at least 426 children.
Mr Obama said: “I know the American people are weary after a decade of war, even as the war in Iraq has ended, and the war in Afghanistan is winding down.
“That’s why we’re not putting our troops in the middle of somebody else’s war. Failing to respond to this outrageous attack would increase the risk chemical weapons could be used again and fall into the hands of terrorists who might use them against us.
“And it would send a horrible signal to other nations that there would be no consequences for their use of these weapons.”
Foreign Secretary William Hague yesterday refused to rule out giving MPs a fresh chance to vote for military strikes.
But Mr Hague suggested he would only go back to Parliament if Labour changed its stance in the wake of new evidence.
The top Tory even lashed out at leader Ed Miliband for behaving in a “opportunistic and partisan way”. He added: “People also have to ask themselves if the world does not confront the use of chemical weapons, what next?”
Mr Hague is likely to wait until the outcome of US votes before considering a new vote at home.
The first Senate vote, expected on Wednesday, will most likely be on a resolution authorising the “limited and specified use” of US armed forces against Syria for no more than 90 days and barring US ground troops from combat.
A final vote in the 100-member chamber was expected by the end of the week, before a House of Representatives vote next week.
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