The US, Britain and France are pressing ahead with plans for a 48-hour cruise missile attack on selected Syrian military assets at the end of this week, as financial markets become increasingly nervous at heightened tension in the region.

As Syria vowed yesterday to use “all means available” to counter a US-led assault on president Bashar al-Assad’s regime, western officials said their defence chiefs would deploy sea-launched cruise missiles to attack Syria. Officials said they would not be targeting suspected chemical weapons locations but a limited range of air force and army sites.

David Cameron, UK prime minister, and French president Fran?ois Hollande will convene their governments’ national security councils to help finalise plans for the attack. The US said it would soon publish new intelligence information on last week’s chemical weapons attack in eastern Damascus which would point to the Assad regime’s guilt.