Syria agrees to Russian proposal on chemical weapons
The Syrian government on Tuesday agreed to Russia’s proposal to hand its chemical arsenal over to international control, Russia’s ITAR-TASS and Interfax reported citing the Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem who is visiting Russia.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem during his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the Russian Foreign Ministry's Mansion in Moscow, on September 9, 2013. Photo: RIA Novosti
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Walid Muallem said “Yesterday [Monday] we held a round of very fruitful negotiations with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and he put forward an initiative regarding chemical weapons. Already in the evening we accepted Russia’s initiative,” Meanwhile, a press release of the Russian Foreign Ministry quoted members of UN Security Council meeting about human rights in Geneva, Switzerland on Tuesday as saying that evidence on chemical weapon use in Syria is falsified. Participants stressed that the chemical weapon use scenario without UN Security Council’s agreement is a gross violation of international laws and said that the US leaders must take responsibility for military strike threat. Besides, Russia noted that military intervention from outside will cause civilian casualty and a humanitarian disaster to Syria and the Middle East as a whole. The same day, US President Barack Obama and top security officers continued campaigning the use of force but temporarily spend time to pursue the Russian proposal to control and then demolish Syria’s chemical arsenal. Jay Carney, Spokesperson for the White House admitted there were some developments but the US is observing the details of Russian proposal. Philippe Lalliot, Spokesperson for French Foreign Ministry said France is ready to amend the draft resolution of the UN Security Council asking Syria to give up its chemical weapons or face military attack.