A specialist military unit which is able to secure Syria's chemical weapons is to be reinstated by the Ministry of Defence - two years after it was axed as part of budget cuts.
The move will be made after US President Barack Obama decided that intervention is necessary in the civil war-ravaged country, with British forces able to join US forces sent to Syria to try and prevent its stockpile of weapons falling into terrorist's hands.
The unit was cut in 2011 in a bid to save £129million a year.
An MoD source said that the unit could be operational again before the end of September, according to The Daily Telegraph.
The source told the paper: 'The MoD has been engaged in a very rapid re-think of what Britain is able to do in Syria, and concluded that the lack of a capability would largely prevent active participation in a US ground incursion, or even a post-conflict offer to sort out chemical weapons sites that are vulnerable to terrorists' looting.
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Reopening: A specialist chemical weapons unit could be reopened by the MoD as Britain considers joining the US and intervening in the Syrian conflict. Chemical weapons have reportedly been used in the bloody civil war
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