From dismay in Israel to caution in France, reaction to the US president's decision to seek approval from Congress was mixed

France

François Hollande is facing growing calls from opposition politicians to allow the French parliament to vote on intervention in Syria after Barack Obama's decision to seek approval in the US Congress.

France is looking increasingly isolated as the only major western power not obliged to seek the view of its elected representatives before any military action. Under the constitution, the president – who is also head of the army – holds all the necessary powers to order military intervention abroad and is obliged only to inform parliament up to three days after launching an operation. MPs would only be required to vote if an intervention needed to be prolonged beyond four months. A parliamentary debate on Syria scheduled for Wednesday is currently not set to include a vote and is more of a courtesy gesture.

But Obama's decision to call on Congresshas left Hollande in an increasingly awkward political position at home, where opponents are already questioning France's role as the US's main ally in Syria after Britain ruled out involvement in military action. The interior minister, Manual Valls, reiterated France's determination to act to sanction the Syrian regime's alleged use of chemical weapons yesterdayon Sunday. He also said France would wait for Washington. "France cannot act alone. There must be a coalition," he said.

Obama, who held 45 minutes of talks with Hollande on Friday evening, called the French president on again Saturday to inform him of his decision to approval in Congress vote before announcing it publicly in a speech from the White House.

The more time passes, the more French opposition voices are clamouring for their own vote in parliament. François Fillon, the former prime minister and member of the rightwing UMP opposition, said: "I think that in certain circumstances France can't go to war without the clear support of parliament." He had earlier warned that France should not act "lightly" or passively "tag along" behind the Americans but consider the dangers of military action in a volatile region. The UMP leader Jean-François Copé said France must keep "its total freedom of initiative" and wait for the UN inspectors' conclusions on chemical weapons use. "The Iraq syndrome is present in everyone's minds," he said.

Centrists Jean-Louis Borloo and François Bayrou also called for a parliamentary vote, as did the hard-left Front de Gauche.

The prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault will meet the national assembly and senate heads, and the leaders of opposition party parliament groups to brief them on Monday . The government also indicated it would release its intelligence dossier on the Syrian regime's use of chemical weapons, after London and Washington released similar reports. The political sparring grew heated on Sunday when the head of the Socialist party, Harlem Désir, accused rightwing opponents of displaying a "Munich spirit", a reference to the 1938 Munich agreement seen as an appeasement of Hitler. This sparked outrage on the right, which demanded an apology.

A BVA poll this weekend found 64% of people were against French participation in a military intervention in Syria.

When France, the former colonial power, intervened in Mali in January, parliament did not debate the issue until days after the first operations. Nicolas Sarkozy's government did not consult parliament before intervening in Libya in 2011.

Israel

The government did not comment officially on Obama's decision to seek the support of Congress for an attack on President Bashar al-Assad's regime, but some Israelis expressed dismay or even outrage, concluding that the US could no longer be trusted to defend red lines in relation to Iran's nuclear programme.

"The American hesitance, and the rest of the world's hypocrisy confirms the concern that when it comes to maintaining its security, Israel should not trust others and their promises, but must be prepared to protect its own security interests," said Avi Wortzman, the deputy education minister.

Writing on his Facebook page before Obama's statement, the economics and trade minister Naftali Bennett said: "The international stuttering and hesitancy on Syria just proves once more that Israel cannot count on anyone but itself. From Munich 1938 to Damascus 2013 nothing has changed. This is the lesson we ought to learn from the events in Syria."

For the military analyst Alex Fishman, writing in Yedioth Ahronoth, the lesson was similar: "If we find ourselves in a crisis with Iran, no one in the world is going to be prepared to move a single plane on our behalf. At best, we'll receive verbal support."

Ron Ben-Yishai, the paper's veteran war correspondent, said: "President Obama blinked, and this is bad. It is bad for the US's interests, it's bad for its allies' interests and it sends an encouraging message to cruel, unrestrained regimes that possess or don't possess weapons of mass destruction."

Turkey

Hundreds of protesters joined hands in Istanbul on Sunday in a silent protest against war and possible military intervention in Syria.

"I came here to support peace in Turkey and in the world, and because I am against countering violence with more violence," Seda Kalem, 36, said. Criticising the ruling AK Party's policy on Syria, she added: "Of course I think that what Assad is doing is very bad, but our government is wrong in inciting even more violence. I hope the United States will carefully review their decision. I think it's time for peace."

Drivers expressed support by honking, waving and making peace signs from their car windows. While the one-hour protest was peaceful almost everywhere in Istanbul, riot police forcibly broke up the human chain in central Taksim Square. Prior to the protests, police had also cordoned off the adjacent Gezi park and the Ataturk statue on the square.

Similar protests took place in other Turkish cities. In the Turkish border town of Reyhanli, protesters formed a human chain between the two sites of the car bombs that killed 53 people in May.

Ever since the crisis began early in 2011, Turkey has been a highly vocal critic of Damascus, its former ally. Despite widespread criticism by opposition parties and many Turks, the government has been rallying for intervention in Syria. In a public speech at the weekend, the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said: "The UN is paralysed. That is why we decided to act together in a Syria where 100,000 were killed. That could be done through a coalition of the willing, but it is time to act."

Russia

Alexei Pushkov, the chairman of the Duma's international affairs committee, said on Sunday that Obama was trying to firm up his political position before the imminent attack on Syria and give himself time to win European countries and his own population over to his side.

On Saturday the president, Vladimir Putin, declared that it was "absolute nonsense" to say that the regime was responsible for the chemical weapons attack. Russian newspapers commented on Obama's announcement, with Izvestiya saying the US president was only delaying his own demise, as either decision will hurt his reputation at home and abroad. A report in Moskovsky Komsomolets noted that his decision has alleviated diplomatic tensions ahead this week's G20 summit in St Petersburg.

Vatican

Pope Francis has called on the international community to address the situation in Syria through dialogue and negotiation. "It is never the use of violence that leads to peace," he said.

Giving the Sunday blessing or angelus to crowds in St Peter's square, the pontiff declared that there would be a a vigil, a "day of fasting and prayer for peace", in the square next Saturday.

The pope said he had been "deeply wounded" by the recent violence in Syria, condemning "with particular firmness" the use of chemical weapons.

"I say to you that I still have the terrible images of recent days stuck in my mind and in my heart … On our actions there is the judgment of God and also of the judgment of history which cannot be escaped," he said.

"I urge the international community to make every effort to promote, without further delay, clear initiatives for peace in this country based on dialogue and negotiation for the good of all Syrian people."

Germany

Obama's position won support from Germany's left-leaning Süddeutsche Zeitung on Sunday: With the last ten years littered with examples of the public being "ignored by a presumptious political elite," it wrote, "a little humility would be advisable."

Der Spiegel called it Obama's "most risky and cynical chess move" to date. "Having manoeuvered himself into a dead end in the Syria crisis, Obama has found a way out – and without losing any face."

The move has not only won him time, but also gives him the chance to "paint himself as the determined general" with the option of blaming Congress if it blocks action in Syria, the paper said. "But it's a risky game. Obama risks emerging a powerless president frozen out by parliament - like Cameron."

If only Obama were a bit more like George W Bush, he wouldn't have failed to enforce his diplomatic red line, the right-leaning daily Die Welt wrote. "Scared of going it alone," the US president "started dithering again when the British pulled out."

• The first Russian motherboard based on ARM-processor Baikal-M