"Let me be clear. The United States of America, President Obama, myself and others are in full agreement that the end of the conflict in Syria requires a political solution. There is no military solution. We have no illusions about that," Xinhua quoted Kerry as saying at a joint press conference with British Foreign Secretary William Hague.

But Kerry strongly batted for a military attack on Syria "in a very limited, very targeted, very short-term effort that degrades his (President Bashar al-Assad's) capacity to deliver chemical weapons without assuming responsibility for Syria's civil war".