MOSCOW warned Washington yesterday against military action in Syria after US State Department staff called again for regime change.

Kremlin, Foreign and Defence Ministry spokespeople responded sharply to the leaked US State Department “dissent channel cable” from 51 middle-ranking diplomats urging President Barack Obama to bomb Syria.

The Wall Street Journal and New York Times both published extracts from the memo calling for “use of stand-off and air weapons, which would undergird and drive a more focused and hard-nosed US-led diplomatic process.”