14 sept 2013
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Russia and the United States reached a deal on a framework that will see the destruction or removal of Syria’s chemical weapons by mid- 2014. Under the plan, the Assad government has one week to hand over an inventory of its chemical weapons arsenal.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his US counterpart John Kerry announced the plan on putting an end to Syria’s chemical weapons program following their third day of negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland. Kerry outlined several points of the plan, which would see the “rapid assumption of control by the international community” of Syria’s chemical weapons. He further stressed US-Russia commitment to the complete destruction of not only of Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal, but also its production and refinement capabilities. |
Syria will also become a party to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which outlaws their production and use. On Saturday, the UN said it had received all documents necessary for Syria to join the chemical weapons convention and that Syria would come under the treaty in 30 days starting on October 14.
Damascus must submit within a week’s time – “and not 30 days” – a complete inventory of related arms, “including names, types, and quantities of its chemical weapons agents, types of munitions, and location and form of storage, production and research and development facilities."
The Syrian government should provide the OPCW, the UN and other supporting personnel “with the immediate and unfettered right to inspect any and all sites in Syria.” Lavrov later said that security for all international inspectors on the ground should be provided for not only by the government, but opposition forces as well.
It remains undecided who will actually be tasked with destroying the stock, although their destruction “outside of Syria" and under “OPWC supervision” would prove to be optimal.
On the timetable, Kerry said UN inspectors must be on the ground no later than November, while the destruction of chemical weapons must be completed by the middle of 2014.
"Providing this framework is fully implemented it can end the threat these weapons pose not only to the Syrian people but also their neighbors," Kerry said adding that Russian and US teams of experts had reached "a shared assessment" of the existing stockpile and that Syria must destroy all of its weapons. It was possible that the Syrian rebels have some chemical weapons, he acknowledged.
If Damascus fails to comply with the plan, a response in accordance with UN Charter Chapter 7 will follow, Kerry said, in a reference to the use of military force. The chapter provides for "action by air, sea, or land forces as may be necessary to maintain or restore international peace and security" in the event other measures fail.
Damascus must submit within a week’s time – “and not 30 days” – a complete inventory of related arms, “including names, types, and quantities of its chemical weapons agents, types of munitions, and location and form of storage, production and research and development facilities."
The Syrian government should provide the OPCW, the UN and other supporting personnel “with the immediate and unfettered right to inspect any and all sites in Syria.” Lavrov later said that security for all international inspectors on the ground should be provided for not only by the government, but opposition forces as well.
It remains undecided who will actually be tasked with destroying the stock, although their destruction “outside of Syria" and under “OPWC supervision” would prove to be optimal.
On the timetable, Kerry said UN inspectors must be on the ground no later than November, while the destruction of chemical weapons must be completed by the middle of 2014.
"Providing this framework is fully implemented it can end the threat these weapons pose not only to the Syrian people but also their neighbors," Kerry said adding that Russian and US teams of experts had reached "a shared assessment" of the existing stockpile and that Syria must destroy all of its weapons. It was possible that the Syrian rebels have some chemical weapons, he acknowledged.
If Damascus fails to comply with the plan, a response in accordance with UN Charter Chapter 7 will follow, Kerry said, in a reference to the use of military force. The chapter provides for "action by air, sea, or land forces as may be necessary to maintain or restore international peace and security" in the event other measures fail.
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But Russia's Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, said the agreement did not include any potential use of force against Syria. He however said that deviations from the plan, including attacks on UN inspectors, would be brought to the UN Security Council, which would decide on further action.
There is no prior agreement about what form the Security Council’s measures might take if Syria does not comply, Kerry said. The joint press conference was rather jovial in nature, contrasting sharply with the public barbs which have been traded between Russian and US officials in recent days. |
Kerry in fact concluded the press conference by teasing Lavrov that he “could be a senator” after the Russian FM gave a rather voluble reply to a question posed by a Russian journalist.
Kick starting Geneva II Meanwhile, both sides reiterated previously stated intentions to meet with Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations and Arab League Special Envoy to Syria, on the margins of the UN General Assembly on September 28.
Speaking alongside Kerry and Lavrov in Geneva on Friday, Brahimi said ongoing work to put Syria’s chemical weapons under international control was a necessary step for convening the Geneva II conference. The conference, which is intended to hammer out a political solution to the brutal civil war which has embroiled Syria for over two years, could be held in October, Lavrov told reporters.
On Monday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is expected to present a report to the Security Council which sources say contains overwhelming evidence that “chemical weapons were used” in an August 21 attack in a Damascus Suburb which killed between 355 and 1,729 people.
The government of Bashar Assad strongly denied government forces were responsible for the attack, while the West overwhelmingly blamed Damascus, prompting US Barack Obama’s threat of military action.
Obama has threatened to strike Syria unilaterally, prompting Russia’s Saturday’s joint proposal which will see Syria’s chemical weapons brought under international control.
Although President Assad immediately acquiesced to the Russian-backed plan, rebel forces have resisted efforts which have staved off Western intervention in the country.
On Saturday, the Free Syrian Army rejected a US-Russian deal as a stalling tactic and vowed to continue fighting to topple the Assad government.
"The Russian-American initiative does not concern us. It only seeks to gain time," said Salim Idriss, the chief of the FSA command, said.
"We completely ignore this initiative and will continue to fight to bring down the regime," he told a press conference Saturday in the Turkish city of Istanbul.
Kick starting Geneva II Meanwhile, both sides reiterated previously stated intentions to meet with Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations and Arab League Special Envoy to Syria, on the margins of the UN General Assembly on September 28.
Speaking alongside Kerry and Lavrov in Geneva on Friday, Brahimi said ongoing work to put Syria’s chemical weapons under international control was a necessary step for convening the Geneva II conference. The conference, which is intended to hammer out a political solution to the brutal civil war which has embroiled Syria for over two years, could be held in October, Lavrov told reporters.
On Monday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is expected to present a report to the Security Council which sources say contains overwhelming evidence that “chemical weapons were used” in an August 21 attack in a Damascus Suburb which killed between 355 and 1,729 people.
The government of Bashar Assad strongly denied government forces were responsible for the attack, while the West overwhelmingly blamed Damascus, prompting US Barack Obama’s threat of military action.
Obama has threatened to strike Syria unilaterally, prompting Russia’s Saturday’s joint proposal which will see Syria’s chemical weapons brought under international control.
Although President Assad immediately acquiesced to the Russian-backed plan, rebel forces have resisted efforts which have staved off Western intervention in the country.
On Saturday, the Free Syrian Army rejected a US-Russian deal as a stalling tactic and vowed to continue fighting to topple the Assad government.
"The Russian-American initiative does not concern us. It only seeks to gain time," said Salim Idriss, the chief of the FSA command, said.
"We completely ignore this initiative and will continue to fight to bring down the regime," he told a press conference Saturday in the Turkish city of Istanbul.
Two Palestinians were killed Friday in a Damascus refugee camp. The Workforce for Palestinians in Syria said Saturday in a statement that Mohammed Namrawi from Yarmouk refugee camp died on Thursday from wounds sustained a few days ago in a shelling on Palestine Street.
Samer Amrein detained since January 2012 has been reported killed in a Syrian security prisons.
The group pointed to the continued siege imposed by the Syrian army forces and groups of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command on the Yarmouk refugee camp, which prevented the access of any medicines or food aid through checkpoints to stationed at the entrances to the camp.
Samer Amrein detained since January 2012 has been reported killed in a Syrian security prisons.
The group pointed to the continued siege imposed by the Syrian army forces and groups of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command on the Yarmouk refugee camp, which prevented the access of any medicines or food aid through checkpoints to stationed at the entrances to the camp.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to (occupied) Jerusalem on Sunday for discussions with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Middle East peace talks as well as on Syria, the State Department announced on Friday. "The purpose of the visit is to have an in-depth discussion with the prime minister on the final status negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. "They will also focus on developments in Syria."
Kerry met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in London on Monday. He is currently in Geneva, holding talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Syria's chemical weapons programme.
The U.S. Secretary of State was also to travel to Paris on Sunday, for meetings on Monday with the foreign ministers of France, the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia, Psaki said. He was due to return to Washington on Monday.
Kerry met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in London on Monday. He is currently in Geneva, holding talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Syria's chemical weapons programme.
The U.S. Secretary of State was also to travel to Paris on Sunday, for meetings on Monday with the foreign ministers of France, the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia, Psaki said. He was due to return to Washington on Monday.
13 sept 2013
Arriving at the rubble of the Palestinian Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus, Hadia al-Fut discovered that her husband had been killed while fighting in the ranks of a pro-regime Palestinian group.
Worse still, she found there was little chance she would be able to recover his remains because the rebels who killed him in an ambush a day earlier were holding out for an exchange for bodies.
Hadia, a Palestinian, had fled Yarmouk because of ongoing fighting there, but was back at the camp to meet her husband.
"We had an appointment because we had to register our 19-month-old son," she said between sobs.
"When I arrived, I was told that he and his whole group were killed in an ambush by Al-Nusra Front," she added, referring to a jihadist rebel group.
Her husband Mohamed had been fighting in the ranks of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, a pro-regime Palestinian group led by Ahmed Jibril.
Just 27, he was a taxi driver before the war, and decided to join the PFLP-GC a year ago despite being Syrian.
"I want to see my husband one last time. I want to know where he was buried," Hadia said tearfully.
But the possibility of retrieving his body seemed slight because the rebels who killed him were holding out for an exchange for bodies.
She discussed it with with a PFLP-GC leader, as the sounds of battle -- gun and automatic weapons fire -- continued around them.
"I need to have him close to me, but there's no hope, because his friends don't have a body to exchange for his," she said, holding the hands of her son and seven-year-old daughter Sira.
In an apartment in part of the camp controlled by the faction, the smell of death hovered over a body wrapped in sheets.
The Palestinian pro-regime fighters said it was that of a foreign rebel, but opposition forces refused to accept it in an exchange because the corpse couldn't be identified.
Yarmuk has been the scene of fierce clashes for months between opposition fighters and forces loyal the regime of President Bashar Assad.
The area was established in 1957 as a camp for Palestinian refugees, but has gradually become a district of the capital.
It is home to around 450,000 people, including 150,000 Syrians, and many mixed marriages like that of Hadia and Mohamed.
The 500,000 Palestinians in Syria stayed largely outside of the conflict between the opposition and regime for its first 18 months.
But from December 2012 onwards, they have been increasingly involved, despite calls from the regime and international organisations for them to remain neutral.
"Today, we control 25 percent of the camp after offensive that was launched a month ago. I'm sure that with time we will retake it completely," said Jumaa al-Abdallah, the PFLP-GC's chief in Yarmuk.
The assessment is rather optimistic.
The group, which is allied with other pro-regime Palestinian factions including Fatah al-Intifada, the Abu Nidal Front, the Palestine Liberation Front and al-Saiqa, has in fact advanced just 200 metres inside Yarmouk.
The pro-regime forces say they are facing an alliance of more than 2,000 fighters from Hamas, the Al-Nusra Front, the Ibn Taymiya Brigades and the Fatah movement of President Mahmoud Abbas.
For Yarmouk residents caught in the middle, life is miserable.
The part of the camp retaken by the pro-regime forces is deserted, and the some 50,000 mostly Palestinian residents of areas controlled by the rebels have almost no access to food because exits are blocked by rubble or off-limits because of snipers.
"There's no more bread, no milk, we're eating crushed rice, lentils and burghul," said resident Abu Rashid, who has lost six kilograms in two months.
"I'm strong and I've become a skeleton, and my four children have yellow faces. There is no electricity, only water. I stay because I have no place to go," the 60-year-old said.
The Syrian army is not involved in the fighting at Yarmuk, and at Batiha square, just a single police station remains open.
"Nine months ago, the rebels attacked. We were surrounded for 48 hours and out of 25 of us, four were killed and five were injured," said Abu Jaafar, a police officer.
"Today, things are better, but as you can imagine, no one comes to report anything to us or ask for our help."
Worse still, she found there was little chance she would be able to recover his remains because the rebels who killed him in an ambush a day earlier were holding out for an exchange for bodies.
Hadia, a Palestinian, had fled Yarmouk because of ongoing fighting there, but was back at the camp to meet her husband.
"We had an appointment because we had to register our 19-month-old son," she said between sobs.
"When I arrived, I was told that he and his whole group were killed in an ambush by Al-Nusra Front," she added, referring to a jihadist rebel group.
Her husband Mohamed had been fighting in the ranks of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, a pro-regime Palestinian group led by Ahmed Jibril.
Just 27, he was a taxi driver before the war, and decided to join the PFLP-GC a year ago despite being Syrian.
"I want to see my husband one last time. I want to know where he was buried," Hadia said tearfully.
But the possibility of retrieving his body seemed slight because the rebels who killed him were holding out for an exchange for bodies.
She discussed it with with a PFLP-GC leader, as the sounds of battle -- gun and automatic weapons fire -- continued around them.
"I need to have him close to me, but there's no hope, because his friends don't have a body to exchange for his," she said, holding the hands of her son and seven-year-old daughter Sira.
In an apartment in part of the camp controlled by the faction, the smell of death hovered over a body wrapped in sheets.
The Palestinian pro-regime fighters said it was that of a foreign rebel, but opposition forces refused to accept it in an exchange because the corpse couldn't be identified.
Yarmuk has been the scene of fierce clashes for months between opposition fighters and forces loyal the regime of President Bashar Assad.
The area was established in 1957 as a camp for Palestinian refugees, but has gradually become a district of the capital.
It is home to around 450,000 people, including 150,000 Syrians, and many mixed marriages like that of Hadia and Mohamed.
The 500,000 Palestinians in Syria stayed largely outside of the conflict between the opposition and regime for its first 18 months.
But from December 2012 onwards, they have been increasingly involved, despite calls from the regime and international organisations for them to remain neutral.
"Today, we control 25 percent of the camp after offensive that was launched a month ago. I'm sure that with time we will retake it completely," said Jumaa al-Abdallah, the PFLP-GC's chief in Yarmuk.
The assessment is rather optimistic.
The group, which is allied with other pro-regime Palestinian factions including Fatah al-Intifada, the Abu Nidal Front, the Palestine Liberation Front and al-Saiqa, has in fact advanced just 200 metres inside Yarmouk.
The pro-regime forces say they are facing an alliance of more than 2,000 fighters from Hamas, the Al-Nusra Front, the Ibn Taymiya Brigades and the Fatah movement of President Mahmoud Abbas.
For Yarmouk residents caught in the middle, life is miserable.
The part of the camp retaken by the pro-regime forces is deserted, and the some 50,000 mostly Palestinian residents of areas controlled by the rebels have almost no access to food because exits are blocked by rubble or off-limits because of snipers.
"There's no more bread, no milk, we're eating crushed rice, lentils and burghul," said resident Abu Rashid, who has lost six kilograms in two months.
"I'm strong and I've become a skeleton, and my four children have yellow faces. There is no electricity, only water. I stay because I have no place to go," the 60-year-old said.
The Syrian army is not involved in the fighting at Yarmuk, and at Batiha square, just a single police station remains open.
"Nine months ago, the rebels attacked. We were surrounded for 48 hours and out of 25 of us, four were killed and five were injured," said Abu Jaafar, a police officer.
"Today, things are better, but as you can imagine, no one comes to report anything to us or ask for our help."
News links Syria
Syrian opposition: Assad is trying to deceive world
Syria to publish chemical attack report at same time as UN
Report: Russian destroyer headed to Mediterranean Sea
Putin welcomes Syria's entry to anti-chemical arms pact
Syrian rebels: Assad transfers chemical weapons to Lebanon, Iraq
Syrian opposition: Assad is trying to deceive world
Syria to publish chemical attack report at same time as UN
Report: Russian destroyer headed to Mediterranean Sea
Putin welcomes Syria's entry to anti-chemical arms pact
Syrian rebels: Assad transfers chemical weapons to Lebanon, Iraq
12 sept 2013
The Working Group for the Palestinians in Syria said that five Palestinian refugees were killed on Wednesday due to the continued shelling and attacks on Palestinian refugee camps in Syria. The group said in a statement on Thursday that Sami Abdul Aziz was Killed during clashes in the Yarmouk refugee camp, while Wissam Said from the camp was killed from torture in the prisons of the Syrian regime.
Another Palestinian youth Shehadeh Shahabi, from the Yarmouk refugee camp, died of wounds sustained a month ago following the shelling of the camp. The activist Khalid Bakraway from the camp also died under torture in the prisons of the Syrian regime.
The group added that another refugee Awas Hadros was killed during the clashes in the Yarmouk camp between groups of the Free Army and the Regular Army.
Several shells fell on the Yarmouk camp on Wednesday, leading to a fire in a building on the main street of the camp which inhabitants are still suffering from the siege imposed on them by the regular army for the 58th day.
The Working Group for the Palestinians in Syria reported that Husseiniyeh camp was also bombed which resulted in material damage.
It added that Khan Eshieh refugee camp, which population suffers from different crises, was subjected to shellings that caused no injuries.
Another Palestinian youth Shehadeh Shahabi, from the Yarmouk refugee camp, died of wounds sustained a month ago following the shelling of the camp. The activist Khalid Bakraway from the camp also died under torture in the prisons of the Syrian regime.
The group added that another refugee Awas Hadros was killed during the clashes in the Yarmouk camp between groups of the Free Army and the Regular Army.
Several shells fell on the Yarmouk camp on Wednesday, leading to a fire in a building on the main street of the camp which inhabitants are still suffering from the siege imposed on them by the regular army for the 58th day.
The Working Group for the Palestinians in Syria reported that Husseiniyeh camp was also bombed which resulted in material damage.
It added that Khan Eshieh refugee camp, which population suffers from different crises, was subjected to shellings that caused no injuries.
Archive june 6 2013
Two mortar shells fired from inside Syria have struck an area in the south of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
An Israeli military spokesman said the mortar shells on Thursday hit open ground and caused no casualties or damage.
"They were apparently fired in error," the spokesman added.
The Golan Heights has been hit by mortar shells several times since the beginning of the conflict in Syria more than two years ago.
The Israeli regime occupied Golan during the 1967 Six Day War.
Two mortar shells fired from inside Syria have struck an area in the south of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
An Israeli military spokesman said the mortar shells on Thursday hit open ground and caused no casualties or damage.
"They were apparently fired in error," the spokesman added.
The Golan Heights has been hit by mortar shells several times since the beginning of the conflict in Syria more than two years ago.
The Israeli regime occupied Golan during the 1967 Six Day War.
News links Syria
Syria now full member of chemical arms pact
Obama: Hopeful on Syria discussions
Assad: Israel should be first to disarm
UN receives document from Syria on joining chemical arms pact
Assad: Will cooperate with disarmament if US stops threatening
Turkey's Erdogan says Assad buying time on chemical weapons
FSA rejects Russia proposal for Syria
Paper reports Russia Syria plan details
What Putin Has to Say to Americans About Syria
France: UN report on Syria likely to come Monday
Putin: US strike on Syria would up-end world order
U.S. weapons reaching Syrian rebels
Syria now full member of chemical arms pact
Obama: Hopeful on Syria discussions
Assad: Israel should be first to disarm
UN receives document from Syria on joining chemical arms pact
Assad: Will cooperate with disarmament if US stops threatening
Turkey's Erdogan says Assad buying time on chemical weapons
FSA rejects Russia proposal for Syria
Paper reports Russia Syria plan details
What Putin Has to Say to Americans About Syria
France: UN report on Syria likely to come Monday
Putin: US strike on Syria would up-end world order
U.S. weapons reaching Syrian rebels
11 sept 2013
Seriously, Israel is acting up with rage on how Syria should be attacked and the regime taken down, but does it really want that to happen?
Israel stands to lose the most from any attack on a Syrian regime that has been steady and disciplined, at least until the time of the so-called revolution more than couple of years back.
On one hand, the current Syrian regime is a logical entity, no matter how others want to paint it otherwise, but if it falls who is going to run the show there?
Well, certainly not the Syrian opposition staying in 5-star hotels in Turkey, Paris, Doha, or Washington who have no influence whatsoever on the ground.
In fact, it is more likely, or I should say definite, that the so-called rebel groups will take control.
As for the Syrian opposition, they are more likely to face serious opposition if they dare to claim any right to run Syria.
However, most of the so-called rebels are ex-wanted-imprisoned terrorists brought from other places in the world to win their freedom killing civilians and spreading chaos in Syria. Some are mercenaries, while others are clueless and lack direction.
The radical groups believe that they have the upper hand but the truth is that none of them are in control on the ground.
Putting all of them together if the regime falls would make an extra recipe for clutter and anarchy that will sweep Syria for years and maybe decades to come, as we have seen before in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya.
The bottom line is that Syria, if the current regime falls, will be a battleground for a civil, regional and international war.
Groups on the ground will relentlessly fight to eliminate each other, and naturally each of these groups have its own regional or international sponsor who will spare no efforts or resources to fuel the race to control what ever is left of Syria with fighters, mercenaries, so-called jihadists, or the so-called Free Syrian Army.
This takes us back to the bottom line, which is that any of the aforementioned groups and others engaged in this contest need an edge to win the masses in Syria and the Arab world.
That edge, as everybody knows, is the piñata that everyone likes to strike: Israel.
Yes, the piñata is Israel and we know that it worked before. When Saddam Hussein used it in 1991 it won him great points throughout the Arab world and the world for that matter. In fact, his strike is what remains of his legacy to this day and is what keeps him the people's leader even when he is six feet under.
This is what these groups fighting to subjugate Syria will do and no matter what assurances given to Israel for their security, Israel should make no mistake that it will be targeted in any case and no matter what.
Nonetheless, there is more to it than meets the eye. The attack on the Syrian regime is not purely for the freedom and liberation for the Syrians, no one is still naive enough to fall for that anymore. It has to do with a fight between regional sects, between Sunnis and Shiites.
The main players now orchestrating the Iraqi civil war will branch out to Syria, which will naturally sweep Lebanon creating one united strip of chaos stretching among Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. The possibilities are endless all with different agendas and endless disagreements, but all with one agreed upon goal ... to strike the piñata.
So again, Israel should stop acting like it is up to the United States and its partner the so-called democratic France to take the decision of military strikes. For Israel too will feel the sparks of war.
Suhail Khalilieh heads the Settlements Monitoring Department at the Applied Research Institute in Jerusalem
Israel stands to lose the most from any attack on a Syrian regime that has been steady and disciplined, at least until the time of the so-called revolution more than couple of years back.
On one hand, the current Syrian regime is a logical entity, no matter how others want to paint it otherwise, but if it falls who is going to run the show there?
Well, certainly not the Syrian opposition staying in 5-star hotels in Turkey, Paris, Doha, or Washington who have no influence whatsoever on the ground.
In fact, it is more likely, or I should say definite, that the so-called rebel groups will take control.
As for the Syrian opposition, they are more likely to face serious opposition if they dare to claim any right to run Syria.
However, most of the so-called rebels are ex-wanted-imprisoned terrorists brought from other places in the world to win their freedom killing civilians and spreading chaos in Syria. Some are mercenaries, while others are clueless and lack direction.
The radical groups believe that they have the upper hand but the truth is that none of them are in control on the ground.
Putting all of them together if the regime falls would make an extra recipe for clutter and anarchy that will sweep Syria for years and maybe decades to come, as we have seen before in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya.
The bottom line is that Syria, if the current regime falls, will be a battleground for a civil, regional and international war.
Groups on the ground will relentlessly fight to eliminate each other, and naturally each of these groups have its own regional or international sponsor who will spare no efforts or resources to fuel the race to control what ever is left of Syria with fighters, mercenaries, so-called jihadists, or the so-called Free Syrian Army.
This takes us back to the bottom line, which is that any of the aforementioned groups and others engaged in this contest need an edge to win the masses in Syria and the Arab world.
That edge, as everybody knows, is the piñata that everyone likes to strike: Israel.
Yes, the piñata is Israel and we know that it worked before. When Saddam Hussein used it in 1991 it won him great points throughout the Arab world and the world for that matter. In fact, his strike is what remains of his legacy to this day and is what keeps him the people's leader even when he is six feet under.
This is what these groups fighting to subjugate Syria will do and no matter what assurances given to Israel for their security, Israel should make no mistake that it will be targeted in any case and no matter what.
Nonetheless, there is more to it than meets the eye. The attack on the Syrian regime is not purely for the freedom and liberation for the Syrians, no one is still naive enough to fall for that anymore. It has to do with a fight between regional sects, between Sunnis and Shiites.
The main players now orchestrating the Iraqi civil war will branch out to Syria, which will naturally sweep Lebanon creating one united strip of chaos stretching among Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. The possibilities are endless all with different agendas and endless disagreements, but all with one agreed upon goal ... to strike the piñata.
So again, Israel should stop acting like it is up to the United States and its partner the so-called democratic France to take the decision of military strikes. For Israel too will feel the sparks of war.
Suhail Khalilieh heads the Settlements Monitoring Department at the Applied Research Institute in Jerusalem
Israeli nuclear and chemical weapons manufacturing facility at Dimona
A newly-discovered document of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency revealed Monday by Foreign Policy magazine shows that the U.S. agency had decisive evidence dating back to at least the 1980s that Israel had a stockpile of chemical and biological weapons.
The revelation comes in the midst of the reported use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government on August 21st, although there is still no clarity as to whether the regime or the rebels carried out the attack, or whether it was an accident.
While U.S. President Barack Obama threatened to go to war with Syria over the attack, the Syrian government has denied responsibility, and has agreed to a proposal by the Russian government to open its stores of chemical weapons to international inspection and destruction.
The document revealed by Foreign Policy magazine on Monday shows that, in addition to building up a nuclear stockpile of an estimated three hundred nuclear weapons during the 1960s and 70s, the Israeli military also developed an extensive stockpile of chemical and biological weapons.
The 1983 document stated that U.S. spy satellites had identified "a probable CW [chemical weapon] nerve agent production facility and a storage facility... at the Dimona Sensitive Storage Area in the Negev Desert. Other CW production is believed to exist within a well-developed Israeli chemical industry."
"While we cannot confirm whether the Israelis possess lethal chemical agents," the document adds, "several indicators lead us to believe that they have available to them at least persistent and nonpersistent nerve agents, a mustard agent, and several riot-control agents, marched with suitable delivery systems."
The single page of a larger CIA report was discovered at the Ronald Reagan Library in California in its unredacted form – the report had been released several years ago to the National Archives, but was heavily censored.
According to the Foreign Policy report, “Israeli historian Avner Cohen, in his 1988 book Israel and the Bomb, wrote that Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion secretly ordered that a stockpile of chemical weapons be built at about the time of the 1956 war between Israel and Egypt. The CIA, on the other hand, believed that Israel did not begin work on chemical weapons until either the late 1960s or the early 1970s.
The article included the following assessment from the 1983 CIA report: "Israel, finding itself surrounded by frontline Arab states with budding CW [chemical weapons] capabilities, became increasingly conscious of its vulnerability to chemical attack. Its sensitivities were galvanized by the capture of large quantities of Soviet CW-related equipment during both the 1967 Arab-Israeli and the 1973 Yom Kippur wars. As a result, Israel undertook a program of chemical warfare preparations in both offensive and protective areas."
The Israeli government has harshly criticized the Syrian government for its alleged use of chemical weapons three weeks ago, and has encouraged President Obama's pledge to respond militarily.
Israel did sign the Convention to Ban Chemical Weapons, but the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) never ratified the treaty. Israel has never opened its nuclear facility or its chemical weapons stockpile to international inspections.
A newly-discovered document of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency revealed Monday by Foreign Policy magazine shows that the U.S. agency had decisive evidence dating back to at least the 1980s that Israel had a stockpile of chemical and biological weapons.
The revelation comes in the midst of the reported use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government on August 21st, although there is still no clarity as to whether the regime or the rebels carried out the attack, or whether it was an accident.
While U.S. President Barack Obama threatened to go to war with Syria over the attack, the Syrian government has denied responsibility, and has agreed to a proposal by the Russian government to open its stores of chemical weapons to international inspection and destruction.
The document revealed by Foreign Policy magazine on Monday shows that, in addition to building up a nuclear stockpile of an estimated three hundred nuclear weapons during the 1960s and 70s, the Israeli military also developed an extensive stockpile of chemical and biological weapons.
The 1983 document stated that U.S. spy satellites had identified "a probable CW [chemical weapon] nerve agent production facility and a storage facility... at the Dimona Sensitive Storage Area in the Negev Desert. Other CW production is believed to exist within a well-developed Israeli chemical industry."
"While we cannot confirm whether the Israelis possess lethal chemical agents," the document adds, "several indicators lead us to believe that they have available to them at least persistent and nonpersistent nerve agents, a mustard agent, and several riot-control agents, marched with suitable delivery systems."
The single page of a larger CIA report was discovered at the Ronald Reagan Library in California in its unredacted form – the report had been released several years ago to the National Archives, but was heavily censored.
According to the Foreign Policy report, “Israeli historian Avner Cohen, in his 1988 book Israel and the Bomb, wrote that Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion secretly ordered that a stockpile of chemical weapons be built at about the time of the 1956 war between Israel and Egypt. The CIA, on the other hand, believed that Israel did not begin work on chemical weapons until either the late 1960s or the early 1970s.
The article included the following assessment from the 1983 CIA report: "Israel, finding itself surrounded by frontline Arab states with budding CW [chemical weapons] capabilities, became increasingly conscious of its vulnerability to chemical attack. Its sensitivities were galvanized by the capture of large quantities of Soviet CW-related equipment during both the 1967 Arab-Israeli and the 1973 Yom Kippur wars. As a result, Israel undertook a program of chemical warfare preparations in both offensive and protective areas."
The Israeli government has harshly criticized the Syrian government for its alleged use of chemical weapons three weeks ago, and has encouraged President Obama's pledge to respond militarily.
Israel did sign the Convention to Ban Chemical Weapons, but the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) never ratified the treaty. Israel has never opened its nuclear facility or its chemical weapons stockpile to international inspections.
News links Syria
Obama’s diplomatic path let us down, Syria’s foreign-backed militants say
Obama to Congress: Delay Syria vote
Russia passes chemical proof to UNSC
Syria ‘wants to join’ CW convention
US attack on Syria ‘war crime’
US Syria evidence, fake: Ex-CIA analyst
Syria militants say want US war, not deal
Obama’s diplomatic path let us down, Syria’s foreign-backed militants say
Obama to Congress: Delay Syria vote
Russia passes chemical proof to UNSC
Syria ‘wants to join’ CW convention
US attack on Syria ‘war crime’
US Syria evidence, fake: Ex-CIA analyst
Syria militants say want US war, not deal
10 sept 2013
FULL TRANSCRIPT: President Obama’s Sept. 10 speech on Syria plus video -Syria attack like Hitler gas chambers: US
Israeli Map of greater Israel
An American journalist says the Israeli lobby in the United States wants to create greater Israel by provoking Washington to launch wars against Syria and Iran.
“Well, everything was seen was based on Jewish lies designed to take over the Middle East and create greater Israel, which was stretched from Egypt to Iran,” Columnist J. Bruce Campbell told Press TV on Tuesday.
“This was the purpose of the Jewish attack on the USS Liberty in 1967, the attacks of 9/11, 2001, and is the purpose of these bogus chemical attacks by the sadistic mercenaries of the CIA, and [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, and the Saudis,” he added.
The analyst was referring to the August 21st chemical weapons attack in Syria. The United States blames the Syria government for the attack, but Damascus has denied the allegation.
“The mercenaries have already admitted they fired the poison weapons against their own people whether by mistake or by purpose which they received from the Saudis who got them from America,” Campbell said.
He also said a mistake by US Secretary of State John Kerry over Syria’s chemical weapons saved the world from another war.
“He [Kerry] made the fatal error of saying that Syrians could give up their chemical weapons and avoid the attack which the Syrians have agreed to do. The Jews are furious, but a blunder the whole plan was to destroy Syria on the way to Iran. Now, there is no way,” Campbell said.
“We were about to fall into the abyss of World War and may yet because World War is the ultimate plan of these monsters. War against Russia and China,” he added.
The analyst also noted that “the preliminary wars against Syria and Iran are for Israel and the American Jews.”
“The whole plan was to destroy Syria on the way to Iran.”
“The main organization pushing war against Syria and Iran is AIPAC, the powerful Jewish lobby in Washington,” he concluded. (Video on the link)
An American journalist says the Israeli lobby in the United States wants to create greater Israel by provoking Washington to launch wars against Syria and Iran.
“Well, everything was seen was based on Jewish lies designed to take over the Middle East and create greater Israel, which was stretched from Egypt to Iran,” Columnist J. Bruce Campbell told Press TV on Tuesday.
“This was the purpose of the Jewish attack on the USS Liberty in 1967, the attacks of 9/11, 2001, and is the purpose of these bogus chemical attacks by the sadistic mercenaries of the CIA, and [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, and the Saudis,” he added.
The analyst was referring to the August 21st chemical weapons attack in Syria. The United States blames the Syria government for the attack, but Damascus has denied the allegation.
“The mercenaries have already admitted they fired the poison weapons against their own people whether by mistake or by purpose which they received from the Saudis who got them from America,” Campbell said.
He also said a mistake by US Secretary of State John Kerry over Syria’s chemical weapons saved the world from another war.
“He [Kerry] made the fatal error of saying that Syrians could give up their chemical weapons and avoid the attack which the Syrians have agreed to do. The Jews are furious, but a blunder the whole plan was to destroy Syria on the way to Iran. Now, there is no way,” Campbell said.
“We were about to fall into the abyss of World War and may yet because World War is the ultimate plan of these monsters. War against Russia and China,” he added.
The analyst also noted that “the preliminary wars against Syria and Iran are for Israel and the American Jews.”
“The whole plan was to destroy Syria on the way to Iran.”
“The main organization pushing war against Syria and Iran is AIPAC, the powerful Jewish lobby in Washington,” he concluded. (Video on the link)
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has compared the alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria to Adolf Hitler’s killings in Nazi Germany in World War II.
“Millions and millions of civilians and prisoners of war were murdered by gas in Nazi death camps, Treblinka, Auschwitz. ‘Never again,’ swore the world. ‘Never again would we permit the use of these poisonous weapons of war,’” he said on the Senate floor.
Reid, who is seeking votes for Washington’s military action against Syria, also warned the nation would be held responsible for failing to act, citing an inscription on the wall of the Holocaust Memorial Museum.
“It’s on the wall. It’s from ‘Dante’s Inferno,’” he was quoted as saying by The Hill.
“‘The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality,’” Reid said.
For US military action in Syria, 26 US senators will support President Barack Obama or are leaning “yes.” Twenty-five senators are opposed or leaning “no,” including 18 Republicans and 49 senators are undecided, according to The Hill.
The numbers in the House are far grimmer as 32 are in the “Yes/Leaning Yes” column and 182 in the “No/Leaning No” column.
The Senate will debate later this week on a resolution authorizing a US military strike against Syria.
Reid said Obama is scheduled to meet with Senate Democrats on Tuesday afternoon in order to convince lawmakers of the Syria war case. The Senate could hold an initial procedural vote on the resolution as early as Wednesday.
The US has claimed that the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was behind a deadly chemical weapons attack in the suburbs of Damascus last month. The Syrian government has denied the allegations.
US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has compared the alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria to Adolf Hitler’s killings in Nazi Germany in World War II.
“Millions and millions of civilians and prisoners of war were murdered by gas in Nazi death camps, Treblinka, Auschwitz. ‘Never again,’ swore the world. ‘Never again would we permit the use of these poisonous weapons of war,’” he said on the Senate floor.
Reid, who is seeking votes for Washington’s military action against Syria, also warned the nation would be held responsible for failing to act, citing an inscription on the wall of the Holocaust Memorial Museum.
“It’s on the wall. It’s from ‘Dante’s Inferno,’” he was quoted as saying by The Hill.
“‘The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality,’” Reid said.
For US military action in Syria, 26 US senators will support President Barack Obama or are leaning “yes.” Twenty-five senators are opposed or leaning “no,” including 18 Republicans and 49 senators are undecided, according to The Hill.
The numbers in the House are far grimmer as 32 are in the “Yes/Leaning Yes” column and 182 in the “No/Leaning No” column.
The Senate will debate later this week on a resolution authorizing a US military strike against Syria.
Reid said Obama is scheduled to meet with Senate Democrats on Tuesday afternoon in order to convince lawmakers of the Syria war case. The Senate could hold an initial procedural vote on the resolution as early as Wednesday.
The US has claimed that the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was behind a deadly chemical weapons attack in the suburbs of Damascus last month. The Syrian government has denied the allegations.
News links Syria
Obama: US could pause Syria war plan
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UN says Syria attack videos fake: Russia
Ex-captives reveal rebels role in CW raid
'Syria militants ready to attack Israel'
Obama: US could pause Syria war plan
China backs Russia offer on Syria CWs
UN says Syria attack videos fake: Russia
Ex-captives reveal rebels role in CW raid
'Syria militants ready to attack Israel'
As of this writing, America is planning military action against Syria under the pretext that the Syrian government allegedly used chemical weapons in an attack in a Damascus suburb on August 21. Leading figures in the Obama administration can be heard referring to chemical weapons as a “moral obscenity,” such that the United States has a “moral obligation” to punish the country that uses them.
Recently declassified CIA files prove that, during the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988), US intelligence agencies actively assisted in some of the most horrific chemical weapons attacks in history, which resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people. These CIA files are the subject of an important new exposé by reporters Shane Harris and Matthew M. Aid in Foreign Policy dated August 26, 2013.
In a key military engagement in 1988, during the final period of the war, the CIA determined that Iranian forces were massing and about to break through Iraqi lines. Specifically, US intelligence agencies determined from satellite images that a planned Iranian offensive was likely to result in the capture of the strategic city of Basra, which in turn could have led to the collapse of the Iraqi military.
This information was transmitted to US President Ronald Reagan, who personally wrote in the margin of one intelligence briefing, “An Iranian victory is unacceptable.” Accordingly, the US intelligence agencies were authorized to transmit as much detailed information as possible regarding the Iranian military positions to the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein. This information was transmitted with full knowledge that Iraq’s military would take advantage of this intelligence to launch a series of illegal chemical weapons attacks.
Rick Francona, an American military attaché who was in Baghdad during this period, was interviewed for Harris and Aid’s report. “The Iraqis never told us that they intended to use nerve gas. They didn’t have to. We already knew,” Francona said.
In a single day of the Iran-Iraq war, 1,500 missiles containing deadly chemical agents rained down on Iranian positions. Iraq assembled its arsenal of chemical weapons—including nerve gas, mustard gas, and anthrax —out of supplies purchased directly from western firms, including US corporations. (These “weapons of mass destruction” would later become the pretext for the US invasion and occupation of the country in 2003.)
According to Harris and Aid’s report, the declassified files “show that senior U.S. officials were being regularly informed about the scale of the nerve gas attacks. They are tantamount to an official American admission of complicity in some of the most gruesome chemical weapons attacks ever launched.”
Much of the information provided to the Hussein regime by the Americans constituted “targeting packages,” according to Francona. In other words, the United States was not just handing out satellite photographs, but was making specific recommendations about when, where, and how Iraq should carry out chemical weapons attacks.
A chemical weapons attack by Iraq on the Kurdish village of Halabja on March 16, 1988 resulted in the deaths of 5,000 civilians, producing some of the most famous and heart-wrenching images of the war. Intelligence from America was “freely flowing” to Iraq, according to Francona. At the time, the US State Department falsely claimed that Iran had carried out the attack. This remained the official US position until the late 1990s.
The declassified intelligence briefings analyze whether any harm would result to US credibility if US complicity in the Iraqi chemical weapons attacks came to light. The briefings then note that the USSR had used illegal chemical weapons in Afghanistan with only minor repercussions, and so recommended that the US could safely do the same.
During the war, Iranian diplomats appealed to the UN to investigate Iraq’s use of illegal chemical weapons. However, the UN did not take any action, citing “lack of evidence”— evidence that was in America’s possession all along.
The Iran-Iraq war, which broke out in 1980 after the Carter administration encouraged Iraq to invade Iran, was one of the most tragic and brutal in the second half of the 20th century, with both countries adopting “total war” strategies that included the targeting of civilians. The average military offensive resulted in 15,000 casualties on each side. An estimated one million people died in the conflict, and two million were maimed or wounded. While secretly working to secure the victory of Iraq, the US adopted an official position of neutrality and sold weapons to both sides.
In the later period of the war, US policy shifted towards more open backing for Iraq, including direct shipments of arms and financial assistance to the Hussein regime. In return, Hussein entered into a major oil pipeline deal with the Americans. In the final period of the war, during which the use of chemical weapons by Iraq was most intense, Reagan ordered the US Navy to intervene directly to protect tankers containing Iraq’s oil exports, effectively signaling that the US would not permit Iran to win. In 1988, Iran accepted a UN Security Council resolution ending the conflict after the USS Vincennes shot down an Iranian passenger plane, killing 290 people.
In the words of Harris and Aid, the declassified CIA documents make clear that “it was the express policy of Reagan to ensure an Iraqi victory in the war, whatever the cost.”
The author also recommends:
The diplomacy of imperialism: Iraq and US foreign policy [12 March 2004]
Recently declassified CIA files prove that, during the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988), US intelligence agencies actively assisted in some of the most horrific chemical weapons attacks in history, which resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people. These CIA files are the subject of an important new exposé by reporters Shane Harris and Matthew M. Aid in Foreign Policy dated August 26, 2013.
In a key military engagement in 1988, during the final period of the war, the CIA determined that Iranian forces were massing and about to break through Iraqi lines. Specifically, US intelligence agencies determined from satellite images that a planned Iranian offensive was likely to result in the capture of the strategic city of Basra, which in turn could have led to the collapse of the Iraqi military.
This information was transmitted to US President Ronald Reagan, who personally wrote in the margin of one intelligence briefing, “An Iranian victory is unacceptable.” Accordingly, the US intelligence agencies were authorized to transmit as much detailed information as possible regarding the Iranian military positions to the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein. This information was transmitted with full knowledge that Iraq’s military would take advantage of this intelligence to launch a series of illegal chemical weapons attacks.
Rick Francona, an American military attaché who was in Baghdad during this period, was interviewed for Harris and Aid’s report. “The Iraqis never told us that they intended to use nerve gas. They didn’t have to. We already knew,” Francona said.
In a single day of the Iran-Iraq war, 1,500 missiles containing deadly chemical agents rained down on Iranian positions. Iraq assembled its arsenal of chemical weapons—including nerve gas, mustard gas, and anthrax —out of supplies purchased directly from western firms, including US corporations. (These “weapons of mass destruction” would later become the pretext for the US invasion and occupation of the country in 2003.)
According to Harris and Aid’s report, the declassified files “show that senior U.S. officials were being regularly informed about the scale of the nerve gas attacks. They are tantamount to an official American admission of complicity in some of the most gruesome chemical weapons attacks ever launched.”
Much of the information provided to the Hussein regime by the Americans constituted “targeting packages,” according to Francona. In other words, the United States was not just handing out satellite photographs, but was making specific recommendations about when, where, and how Iraq should carry out chemical weapons attacks.
A chemical weapons attack by Iraq on the Kurdish village of Halabja on March 16, 1988 resulted in the deaths of 5,000 civilians, producing some of the most famous and heart-wrenching images of the war. Intelligence from America was “freely flowing” to Iraq, according to Francona. At the time, the US State Department falsely claimed that Iran had carried out the attack. This remained the official US position until the late 1990s.
The declassified intelligence briefings analyze whether any harm would result to US credibility if US complicity in the Iraqi chemical weapons attacks came to light. The briefings then note that the USSR had used illegal chemical weapons in Afghanistan with only minor repercussions, and so recommended that the US could safely do the same.
During the war, Iranian diplomats appealed to the UN to investigate Iraq’s use of illegal chemical weapons. However, the UN did not take any action, citing “lack of evidence”— evidence that was in America’s possession all along.
The Iran-Iraq war, which broke out in 1980 after the Carter administration encouraged Iraq to invade Iran, was one of the most tragic and brutal in the second half of the 20th century, with both countries adopting “total war” strategies that included the targeting of civilians. The average military offensive resulted in 15,000 casualties on each side. An estimated one million people died in the conflict, and two million were maimed or wounded. While secretly working to secure the victory of Iraq, the US adopted an official position of neutrality and sold weapons to both sides.
In the later period of the war, US policy shifted towards more open backing for Iraq, including direct shipments of arms and financial assistance to the Hussein regime. In return, Hussein entered into a major oil pipeline deal with the Americans. In the final period of the war, during which the use of chemical weapons by Iraq was most intense, Reagan ordered the US Navy to intervene directly to protect tankers containing Iraq’s oil exports, effectively signaling that the US would not permit Iran to win. In 1988, Iran accepted a UN Security Council resolution ending the conflict after the USS Vincennes shot down an Iranian passenger plane, killing 290 people.
In the words of Harris and Aid, the declassified CIA documents make clear that “it was the express policy of Reagan to ensure an Iraqi victory in the war, whatever the cost.”
The author also recommends:
The diplomacy of imperialism: Iraq and US foreign policy [12 March 2004]
Three Palestinian refugees were killed in Syria on Monday, a local group said.
The Workforce for Palestinians in Syria said that Alaa Abed al-Wahab and Ali Muhammad Attar were killed during shelling in Yarmouk refugee camp.
Yasser Ibrahim al-Joda, also from Yarmouk, died while being held in a government prison. He was detained in December 2012 and the circumstances surrounding his death are unclear.
In Daraa refugee camp, locals say that government snipers positioned on rooftops are firing indiscriminately at people on the main streets, including women and children, leaving residents in a state of panic.
The camp is suffering from a lack of water, electricity, food, and medicine, locals say.
Syrian government forces detained Tareq Sarhan near Tartus on Monday, while Sali Jamal al-Rifai, from al-Aideen refugee camp, and Rami Kamel Juma were released from custody a day earlier, the group said.
In March, the Action Group for Palestinians of Syria said that over 1,377 Palestinians had been killed in the ongoing Syria conflict, with that number thought to have increased significantly since then.
The Workforce for Palestinians in Syria said that Alaa Abed al-Wahab and Ali Muhammad Attar were killed during shelling in Yarmouk refugee camp.
Yasser Ibrahim al-Joda, also from Yarmouk, died while being held in a government prison. He was detained in December 2012 and the circumstances surrounding his death are unclear.
In Daraa refugee camp, locals say that government snipers positioned on rooftops are firing indiscriminately at people on the main streets, including women and children, leaving residents in a state of panic.
The camp is suffering from a lack of water, electricity, food, and medicine, locals say.
Syrian government forces detained Tareq Sarhan near Tartus on Monday, while Sali Jamal al-Rifai, from al-Aideen refugee camp, and Rami Kamel Juma were released from custody a day earlier, the group said.
In March, the Action Group for Palestinians of Syria said that over 1,377 Palestinians had been killed in the ongoing Syria conflict, with that number thought to have increased significantly since then.
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US President Barack Obama may postpone the proposed military strike against Syria, if the Syrian government places its chemical weapons under international control.
Obama told ABC News that he would absolutely postpone plans for an attack if Syrian president Bashar al-Assad yielded control of his chemical weapons. "I want to make sure that norm against use of chemical weapons is maintained," Obama added, " If we can do that without a military strike, that is overwhelmingly my preference." This follows allegations that Assad’s government used chemical weapons against its people on August 21. |
Assad continues to deny the allegations and blames the attack on the Syrian resistance which is working to overthrow him.
The cease of chemical weapons as an alternative to the strike on Syria was proposed by Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, on Monday. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem reportedly welcomed the initiative.
Nonetheless, Obama remains skeptical that the Syrian government would follow through and hand over its chemical weapons. He continues to press US Congress to back a resolution that would authorize him to take military action against Syria. He added that he is not necessarily confident that congress will approve the move.
The BBC reports that congress support of a US strike on Syria is low, with more than 230 of 433 members of the House of Representatives reportedly opposed or likely to oppose a strike on Syria.
Obama said that he has not decided whether he would launch a military strike on his own if Congress votes down the resolution and added that he is taking the opinion of congress and the American people very seriously.
The cease of chemical weapons as an alternative to the strike on Syria was proposed by Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, on Monday. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem reportedly welcomed the initiative.
Nonetheless, Obama remains skeptical that the Syrian government would follow through and hand over its chemical weapons. He continues to press US Congress to back a resolution that would authorize him to take military action against Syria. He added that he is not necessarily confident that congress will approve the move.
The BBC reports that congress support of a US strike on Syria is low, with more than 230 of 433 members of the House of Representatives reportedly opposed or likely to oppose a strike on Syria.
Obama said that he has not decided whether he would launch a military strike on his own if Congress votes down the resolution and added that he is taking the opinion of congress and the American people very seriously.
President Barack Obama said a Russian plan to head off threatened US strikes on Syria by securing a deal to destroy the regime's chemical weapons could be a "significant breakthrough."
Obama warned Monday he had not taken military strikes off the table but, in agreeing to consider the Russian initiative, he effectively pushed back the timetable for possible action.
The US leader had intended to spend the day selling his plan to launch punitive military strikes against Bashar Assad's regime to skeptical American voters and lawmakers.
Instead, he found himself responding to a surprise Russian diplomatic initiative which would see Assad's stockpile of banned chemical arms taken under international control.
Obama, who faces a tough task winning Congressional approval for even a limited military action, admitted that US lawmakers were not close to voting on the issue.
"I don't anticipate that you would see a succession of votes this week or anytime in the immediate future," he told ABC news.
And, in a series of television interviews, he insisted it had only come about because Assad and his allies in Moscow could see the United States was serious about using force.
"I think what we're seeing is that a credible threat of a military strike from the United States, supported potentially by a number of other countries around the world, has given them pause and makes them consider whether or not they would make this move," he told NBC.
"And if they do, then this could potentially be a significant breakthrough. But we have to be skeptical because this is not how we've seen them operate over the last couple of years."
In separate interviews with several US broadcasters, Obama said he had discussed the issue with Russia's President Vladimir Putin at last week's G20 summit in Saint Petersburg.
Washington's European allies gave a similarly cautious welcome to the plan, and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued his own plea for a mission to secure and dispose of the weapons.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had met his Syrian counterpart and urged Damascus to "place chemical weapons under international control and then to have them destroyed."
Speaking in Moscow, Syria's Foreign Minster Walid al-Muallem welcomed the Russian move, though it was not immediately clear if a still defiant Assad would agree to the measure.
The rebels battling Assad, who hoped to see US missiles rain down on the regime, denounced the idea as a plot by Putin to protect Assad.
Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron also expressed concern that the plan might be "a distraction tactic" but broadly welcomed it.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel described the Kremlin's proposal as "interesting" but added that she hoped it would be put into place quickly and not simply be used to "buy time."
And France, the only Western ally to have offered to take part in a US-led strike, said Assad must commit "without delay" to the elimination of his chemical arsenal.
United Nations leader Ban, meanwhile, called for the creation of UN supervised zones in Syria where the country's chemical weapons can be destroyed.
He told reporters he may propose the zones to the Security Council if UN inspectors confirm banned weapons were used and to overcome the council's "embarrassing paralysis" over Syria.
For his part, Assad warned earlier in an interview with US television that the United States will "pay the price" if it attacks Syria.
While Obama portrayed Russia's idea as a victory for Washington's policy of threatening military action, it still leaves him in a domestic political bind.
Having chosen to seek Congressional support for a limited US military strike against Syria, he could be defeated on his home turf.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he would delay a key procedural vote on authorizing force until after Obama makes a national address on the issue on Tuesday.
"I wouldn't say I'm confident," Obama said of the prospect of his winning the impending votes.
Opposition is strong to a measure that is opposed by a majority of US voters, weary of war after drawn out, bloody and inconclusive American missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A New York Times/CBS poll late Monday said 62 percent of people surveyed said the United States should not take a leading role in trying to solve foreign conflicts.
The lower house of the US Congress, the House of Representatives, is led by Republicans who oppose Obama's every move.
Some anti-war Democrats are also expected to oppose the motion, and the support of pro-war neo-conservatives in the Republican ranks may not be enough to push it through.
But US cruise missile destroyers are idling in the eastern Mediterranean, preparing for what American officials described as a limited punitive strike.
According to US intelligence, on August 21 a chemical attack against rebel-held suburbs of Damascus killed more than 1,400 people, including 400 children gassed in their beds.
Western states and the Arab League have condemned the alleged barrage as a war crime and blamed it on Assad's regime.
US-based rights group Human Rights Watch said in a statement early Tuesday that all available evidence "strongly suggested" the Syrian government forces were responsible for the attack.
Human Rights Watch issued its findings in a 22-page report after analyzing witness accounts of the rocket attacks, the physical remnants of weapons used and the symptoms exhibited by the victims.
Obama has argued that a military strike is necessary to defend the long-established international taboo against the use of chemical weapons.
He has refused to rule out acting alone, with neither congressional nor international support, but a political defeat at home would be a blow to his credibility and strengthen Assad's hand.
The crisis in Syria flared after Assad's forces launched a brutal crackdown on peaceful anti-regime protests that began in March 2011, and eventually degenerated into an all-out civil war that has killed more than 100,000 people, according to the UN.
Obama warned Monday he had not taken military strikes off the table but, in agreeing to consider the Russian initiative, he effectively pushed back the timetable for possible action.
The US leader had intended to spend the day selling his plan to launch punitive military strikes against Bashar Assad's regime to skeptical American voters and lawmakers.
Instead, he found himself responding to a surprise Russian diplomatic initiative which would see Assad's stockpile of banned chemical arms taken under international control.
Obama, who faces a tough task winning Congressional approval for even a limited military action, admitted that US lawmakers were not close to voting on the issue.
"I don't anticipate that you would see a succession of votes this week or anytime in the immediate future," he told ABC news.
And, in a series of television interviews, he insisted it had only come about because Assad and his allies in Moscow could see the United States was serious about using force.
"I think what we're seeing is that a credible threat of a military strike from the United States, supported potentially by a number of other countries around the world, has given them pause and makes them consider whether or not they would make this move," he told NBC.
"And if they do, then this could potentially be a significant breakthrough. But we have to be skeptical because this is not how we've seen them operate over the last couple of years."
In separate interviews with several US broadcasters, Obama said he had discussed the issue with Russia's President Vladimir Putin at last week's G20 summit in Saint Petersburg.
Washington's European allies gave a similarly cautious welcome to the plan, and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued his own plea for a mission to secure and dispose of the weapons.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had met his Syrian counterpart and urged Damascus to "place chemical weapons under international control and then to have them destroyed."
Speaking in Moscow, Syria's Foreign Minster Walid al-Muallem welcomed the Russian move, though it was not immediately clear if a still defiant Assad would agree to the measure.
The rebels battling Assad, who hoped to see US missiles rain down on the regime, denounced the idea as a plot by Putin to protect Assad.
Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron also expressed concern that the plan might be "a distraction tactic" but broadly welcomed it.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel described the Kremlin's proposal as "interesting" but added that she hoped it would be put into place quickly and not simply be used to "buy time."
And France, the only Western ally to have offered to take part in a US-led strike, said Assad must commit "without delay" to the elimination of his chemical arsenal.
United Nations leader Ban, meanwhile, called for the creation of UN supervised zones in Syria where the country's chemical weapons can be destroyed.
He told reporters he may propose the zones to the Security Council if UN inspectors confirm banned weapons were used and to overcome the council's "embarrassing paralysis" over Syria.
For his part, Assad warned earlier in an interview with US television that the United States will "pay the price" if it attacks Syria.
While Obama portrayed Russia's idea as a victory for Washington's policy of threatening military action, it still leaves him in a domestic political bind.
Having chosen to seek Congressional support for a limited US military strike against Syria, he could be defeated on his home turf.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he would delay a key procedural vote on authorizing force until after Obama makes a national address on the issue on Tuesday.
"I wouldn't say I'm confident," Obama said of the prospect of his winning the impending votes.
Opposition is strong to a measure that is opposed by a majority of US voters, weary of war after drawn out, bloody and inconclusive American missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A New York Times/CBS poll late Monday said 62 percent of people surveyed said the United States should not take a leading role in trying to solve foreign conflicts.
The lower house of the US Congress, the House of Representatives, is led by Republicans who oppose Obama's every move.
Some anti-war Democrats are also expected to oppose the motion, and the support of pro-war neo-conservatives in the Republican ranks may not be enough to push it through.
But US cruise missile destroyers are idling in the eastern Mediterranean, preparing for what American officials described as a limited punitive strike.
According to US intelligence, on August 21 a chemical attack against rebel-held suburbs of Damascus killed more than 1,400 people, including 400 children gassed in their beds.
Western states and the Arab League have condemned the alleged barrage as a war crime and blamed it on Assad's regime.
US-based rights group Human Rights Watch said in a statement early Tuesday that all available evidence "strongly suggested" the Syrian government forces were responsible for the attack.
Human Rights Watch issued its findings in a 22-page report after analyzing witness accounts of the rocket attacks, the physical remnants of weapons used and the symptoms exhibited by the victims.
Obama has argued that a military strike is necessary to defend the long-established international taboo against the use of chemical weapons.
He has refused to rule out acting alone, with neither congressional nor international support, but a political defeat at home would be a blow to his credibility and strengthen Assad's hand.
The crisis in Syria flared after Assad's forces launched a brutal crackdown on peaceful anti-regime protests that began in March 2011, and eventually degenerated into an all-out civil war that has killed more than 100,000 people, according to the UN.
