Germany Wants ICC to Examine Syria Chemical Attack

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle on Thursday said that the International Criminal Court should examine the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

"I have again pressed for the U.N. Security Council to give a mandate to the ICC to examine the chemical attack in Syria," he said on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Russia's Saint Petersburg.

"We have launched this initiative already in January," he said. "The situation has worsened sufficiently for another initiative."

"Naturally, use of chemical weapons is absolutely unacceptable," said the foreign minister.

"We will also discuss this with my European colleagues in Vilnius" at the meeting of European foreign ministers on Friday and Saturday, he added.

European countries are attending the high-pressure summit where the Syrian conflict has overshadowed the economic agenda.

Any action against the Syrian regime's alleged use of chemical weapons through the U.N. Security Council has been so far ruled out by opposition from permanent veto-wielding members Russia and China.