Syria strike seems inevitable as UN team resumes hunt for chemical weapons ...

Updated at 5 22 a.m. Eastern

DAMASCUS Syria U.N. chemical weapons experts investigating an alleged poison gas attack near Damascus left their hotel again Wednesday hoping to carry out their second field trip which was delayed Tuesday for security reasons.

The team of about 20 inspectors left their hotel in the Syrian capital in a convoy of cars to visit the eastern Ghouta suburbs where the Obama administration says President Bashar Assad's forces unleashed a chemical weapons attack on Aug. 21 that killed hundreds of people.

Local activists told CBS News that the convoy had reached the town of Mleiha in the sprawling Ghouta area.

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On Tuesday Vice President Joe Biden made it clear that regardless of what the U.N. inspectors find the White House is now convinced the attack was carried out by Assad's forces.

The American government's assessment is based on the circumstantial evidence from videos posted on the internet and as CBS News correspondent David Martin reported Tuesday intelligence much of it still classified ranging from intercepted Syrian communications to tests of tissue samples taken from victims.

Another key piece of circumstantial evidence which has been cited by both officials and analysts for days is the simple fact that the regime is the only entity in Syria known to have chemical weapons and the means to disperse them.

Based on that evidence the U.S. has moved four missile destroyers into the eastern Mediterranean close to Syria's west coast and reportedly joined by a British submarine ready to launch a strike if and when it is ordered by President Obama according to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

Speaking Wednesday at The Hague U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki moon sought to calm the situation calling for the international community to give his inspection team in Syria time to do its job.

It is essential to establish the facts. A U.N. investigation team is now on the ground to do just that. Just days after the attack they have collected valuable samples and interviewed victims and witnesses. The team needs time to do its job he said.

He urged the United Nations Security Council not to be missing in action as the Syria crisis deepens. Give peace a chance. Give diplomacy a chance. Stop acting and start talking he said.

Russia and China have used their position as permanent members of the Security Council to block any harsher action against the Assad regime thus far and those nations have both also urged the U.S. and its allies to refrain from military action. Russia a long time ally to the Assad regime insists the evidence showing government culpability in the alleged chemical attack is inconclusive.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said Wednesday that the U.K. had drafted a resolution condemning Assad's government for the chemical attack which he said would be circulated later in the day at a meeting of all five permanent Security Council member states. The U.S. Britain Russia China and France are the permanent members the so called P5 nations. Each one holds the power to veto any action taken by the Council.

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Syria's foreign minister renewed Tuesday the regime's vehement denial of any involvement in a chemical attack demanding that the U.S. produce the evidence of government culpability.

On Monday the U.N. team collected samples and interviewed witnesses in a Damascus suburb. Their convoy was hit by snipers en route but the experts were not hurt. They abandoned plans for a second site visit Tuesday due to unspecified security concerns.

In his news conference Tuesday Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said the delay was a result of the rebel groups failing to agree among themselves to guarantee the U.N. team's security. Muallem sought to counter repeated accusations from Washington and its allies that the Syrian regime was delaying the inspectors' work. He insisted the government was implementing its commitments with the team.

The U.N. has said the team might stay in Syria longer than the initially scheduled two weeks. The current mandate expires on Sunday.

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