US and Russia reach agreement over Syria weapons

President Obama warns Assad regime to comply with a framework deal to avoid “consequences."

03:48 16 September 2013

Following crucial talks in Geneva last week, US and Russia have finally reached an agreement over Syria’s chemical weapons. A framework document, which was unveiled by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US State Secretary John Kerry, gives Syria about a week to provide full details of its stockpile. The chemical weapons are expected to be destroyed by mid 2014. Should Syria fail to comply, the UN will resort to using force as the last resort. However, the US said Obama reserves the right to act without the agreement of the UN. 

 

Russian foreign minister, on the other hand, agreed that force should be the last option. He said: "Naturally, no use of force is mentioned in these agreed approaches. Nor are any automatic sanctions mentioned. Any violations must be convincingly and unambiguously proven in the UN Security Council.”

 

Meanwhile, the UN, NATO, China, France, and the UK are satisfied with the agreement. Syrian Prime Minister on the other hand, said that the US-Russia deal is a “victory” that averts the war. 

 

US have accused the Syrian regime of using chemical weapons to kill hundreds of people in eastern Damascus on August 21. President Bashar al-Assad’s government have denied all allegations and said that the rebels were the ones who carried out the attacks.