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Syria Crisis: Obama Warns Assad Over Chemical Plan
BBC NEWS, MIDDLE EAST
September 15, 2013: US President Barack Obama has warned of "consequences" if the Syrian regime fails to comply with a framework deal to destroy its chemical weapons. A framework document agreed by the US and Russia on Saturday stipulates that Syria must provide full details of its stockpile within a week. The chemical arsenal must then be eliminated by mid-2014. If Syria fails to comply, the deal could be enforced by a UN resolution with the use of force as a last resort. But US officials say the president reserves the right to act without the agreement of the UN.
China, France, the UK, the UN and NATO have all expressed satisfaction at the agreement. In Beijing, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Sunday, “the deal will enable tensions in Syria to be eased". There has so far been no reaction from Damascus.
Mr Obama said in a statement that the deal was an "important step" but urged Syria to "live up to its public commitments". "If diplomacy fails, the United States remains prepared to act," he said. The Pentagon said the US military was still in position for military strikes.
The US says the Syrian regime killed hundreds in a poison-gas attack in eastern Damascus on 21 August. President Bashar al-Assad's government denies the allegations and has accused the rebels of carrying out the attack.
Syria recently agreed to join the global Chemical Weapons Convention, and the UN said it would come under the treaty from 14 October.
Mr Kerry outlined a timetable that analysts said was extremely ambitious. It envisages Syria providing a full inventory of its chemical weapons in one week, all production equipment being destroyed by November, and all weapons being removed from Syria or destroyed by mid-2014.
Russia and the US have agreed on an assessment that the Syrian government possesses 1,000 tons of chemical agents and precursors, according to a US official. The US believes the materials are located in 45 sites, all in government hands, half of which have useable quantities of chemical agents. But it is thought that Russia does not agree on the number of sites, nor that they are all under the government's control.
The military leader of the anti-Assad Free Syrian Army has rejected the deal and promised to continue fighting. "There is nothing in this agreement that concerns us," said Gen Salim Idriss, describing it as a Russian initiative designed to gain time for the Syrian government.
Meanwhile there has been more fighting on the ground in Syria with clashes between government forces and rebels in the suburbs of Damascus, including some of the same areas affected by the 21 August attack.
