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Tension over Syria eases

Damascus accepts Russian proposal on chemical weapons; Obama, Hollande want to keep 'all options open'

Agencies
Syria accepted a Russian proposal yesterday to give up chemical weapons and win a reprieve from IIS military strikes, while major western powers began working on a United Nations resolution to create a timetable and process for ensuring it happens.
Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halki accepted the Russian proposal "to spare Syrian blood," state television reported.
The United States and its allies remained sceptical and President Barack Obama sought to keep the pressure on Syria by maintaining his drive for congressional backing for a possible military strike while exploring a diplomatic alternative.
The US, UK and Prance all stressed that they would not allow Russia or Damascus to play for time, reports The Guardian.
The US secretary of state, John Kerry, told a hearing of the House of Representatives armed services committee the US was waiting for details of the Russian proposal, "but we're not waiting for long".
He said: "President Obama will take a hard look at it. But it has to be swift, it has to be real, it has to be verifiable.
"We have to show Syria, Russia and the world weare not going to fall for stalling tactics."
David Cameron delivered the same message in Westminster saying the UK did not want the Russian disarmament proposal to be "some delaying tactic, some ruse to buy time fora regime that must acton chemical weapons".
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Referring to the planned UN resolution, the prime minister said "there would have to be consequences" if it wasn't done.
However, the western powers' tough rhetoric is weakened by the lack of enthusiasm at home for military action. Parliament has ruled out British involvement in punitive strikes, and the US president, Barack Obama, faces stiff resistance in Congress.
'ALL OPTIONS
OPEN'
French President Francois Hollande and his US counterpart agreed yesterday to keep "all options open" on Syria, as Paris pushes for a UN resolution calling on Damascus to give up its chemical arms, reports AFP.
"The heads of state highlighted their preference for a diplomatic solution but they also underlined the importance of keeping all options open," Hollande's office said in a statement, after the two leaders spoke by telephone.
Amid the whirlwind of diplomatic activity focused on the response to a suspected chemical weapons attack on a Damascus neighbourhood on August 21, the civil war resumed in earnest, President Bashar al-Assad's jets again bombing rebel positions in the capital.
France wants a binding UN Security Council resolution that would provide a framework for controlling and eliminating the weapons and says that Syria would face "extremely serious" consequences if it violated the conditions.
Britain and the United States said they would work on quickly formulating a resolution.
The UN Security Council initially called a closed door meeting asked for by Russia to discuss its proposal to place Syria's chemical weapons under international control, but the meeting was later cancelled at Russia's request.
Moscow, which has previously vetoed three resolutions that would have condemned the Syrian government over the conflict, appeared strongly opposed to the continuation of any military threats to Damascus, as advocated by
Washington.
PUTIN: "NO THREAT
OF FORCE"
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in televised remarks that the initiative to put Syria's chemical weapons under international control would not succeed unless the United States and its allies reject the use of force against Damascus.
The United States appeared unmoved. "For this diplomatic option to have a chance of succeeding, the threat of a US military action ... must continue," Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel told the House Armed Services Committee.
The United States and France had been poised to launch missile strikes to punish Assad's forces, which they blame for the chemical weapons attack. Syria denies it was responsible.
The White House said Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande had agreed in a telephone call on their preference for a diplomatic solution, but that they should continue to prepare for "a full range of responses."
Obama was due to meet Senate Democrats and Republicans to present his case for approving a poten-tial military strike. Secretary of State John Kerry also spelled out the argument in a House hearing and was due to talk by telephone with Lavrov later in the day.
The White House said Obama, who has called the Russian proposal a potential breakthrough, would still push for a vote in Congress to authorize force when he makes a televised address to Americans later on Tuesday.
But the US congressional vote now appeared more about providing a hypothetical threat to back up diplomacy, rather than to unleash immediate missile strikes. A bipartisan group of senior members of Congress was working on a resolution that would take into account the Russian proposal.
Whether international inspectors can neutralize chemical weapons dumps while war rages in Syria remains open to question. INTERNATIONAL
SUPPORT
The White House and the
Kremlin both said the Russian proposal was not entirely new and that Obama and Putin had discussed the principles behind it in the past. Putin's spokesman said it came up at a summit last week, reports Reuters.
With veto-wielding China also backing it, it would be the rare Syria initiative to unite global powers whose divisions have so far blocked Security Council action. Assad's main regional backer, Iran, has also signalled support, as has UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Gulf Arab states which support the rebels were skeptical, however: "It's all about chemical weapons but doesn't stop the spilling of the blood of the Syrian people," said Bahrain's Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed al-Khalifa.
Syria is not a party to international treaties which ban the stockpiling of chemical weapons but is bound by the Geneva conventions that forbid using them in war. Syria has not said whether it possesses poison gas, while denying it has used it.
Western states believe Syria has a vast undeclared chemical arsenal. Sending inspectors to destroy it would be hard even in peace and extraordinarily complicated in the midst of a war.
The two main precedents are ominous: UN inspectors dismantled the chemical arsenal of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in the 1990s but left enough doubt to provide the basis for a US-led invasion in 2003. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was rehabilitated by the West after agreeing to give up his banned weapons, only to be overthrown with NATO help in 2011.
Assad's government says last month's chemical attack was the work of rebels trying to win Western military support, a scenario Washington and its allies say is not credible.
Human Rights Watch, the New York-based watchdog, said evidence strongly suggested Syrian government forces were to blame because the attack used rockets and launchers in the possession only of government forces.