British PM says world must act on Syria, weighs response

(Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Tuesday that a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria was "absolutely abhorrent" and necessitated action from the international community with Britain considering a "proportionate response".

A spokesman for Cameron said the prime minister was aware of the need to "make a clear case" if he did take a decision to use force, saying Britain's armed forces were making sure they were in a position to respond militarily if asked to do so.

"It's reasonable to assume our forces are making contingency plans," the spokesman told reporters, stressing that no decision to use force had yet been taken and that any decision to do so would be based on evidence from "a range of sources".

Cameron cut short his holiday to return to London and will announce later on Tuesday whether he will recall parliament, which is in summer recess, to discuss how best to respond to the latest events in Syria. Cameron believed parliament should have its say on such matters, the spokesman said.

Cameron will chair a meeting of Britain's National Security Council on Wednesday to discuss the matter and is expected to keep talking to other world leaders in the meantime to make sure any response is coordinated.

"Any decision taken will be taken under a strict international framework. Any use of chemical weapons is completely and utterly abhorrent and unacceptable ... and the international community needs to respond to that," said the spokesman.

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Gulf bloc criticises Hezbollah chief’s Syria threat

Threat came after car bomb ripped through Lebanese Shia group's neighborhood, killing 27

The Gulf Cooperation Council has criticised Lebanon's Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah for threatening to send more fighters to neighbouring Syria after a car bomb hit his Shia party's stronghold.

"At the same time that he calls for self restraint, he threatens the Syrians that his party will be more involved in fighting them," GCC secretary general Abdullatif al-Zayani said in a statement released late Monday.

"This is a flagrant meddling in their (Syrians') internal affairs and an obvious violation of the Syrian sovereignty," he said, describing Nasrallah's speech of being "irresponsible".

"Nasrallah continues to boast about the participation of his militia in slaughtering children, women and innocent Syrians, and destroying their towns and property," Zayani said.

He even boasts that he is "ready to double the number of his militia fighters and even to join the fight himself against the Syrian people," Zayani added.

The head of the Iran-backed movement accused radical Sunni Islamists, who have joined the fight against the Syrian regime, of being behind last week's car bomb in the predominantly Shia southern suburb of Beirut, which killed 27 people and wounded 336.

"I will go myself to Syria if it is so necessary in the battle against the takfiris (radical Sunni Muslims); Hezbollah and I will go to Syria" to fight rebels trying to oust President Bashar al-Assad, said Nasrallah defiantly.

Hezbollah is a key supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and has sent fighters across the border this year to bolster government forces, which have been battling an anti-regime revolt since March 2011.

Oil-rich GCC countries, which are backing the uprising, have imposed sanction on Hezbollah over its support for Assad.

The GCC comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

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Obama to explore diplomatic route on Syria chemical weapons

U.S. President Barack Obama addresses the nation about the situation in Syria from the East Room at the White House in Washington, September 10, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Evan Vucci/POOL

By Steve Holland and Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON | Wed Sep 11, 2013 9:07am EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama pledged on Tuesday to explore a diplomatic plan from Russia to take away Syria's chemical weapons, but voiced skepticism about it and urged Americans to support his threat to use military force if needed.

Faced with resistance in polls and Congress to the use of force against Syria, Obama said a Russian offer to pressure President Bashar al-Assad to place his government's chemical weapons under international control raised the chances of putting off the limited military strike that he is considering.

"Over the last few days, we've seen some encouraging signs," Obama said in televised speech from the White House that attempted to offer a clear case for why it is in Americans' interests to intervene in Syria's civil war.

Obama asked leaders in Congress to put off a vote on his request to authorize the use of military force to let diplomacy play out. He said U.S. Navy ships in the eastern Mediterranean and other forces in the region are in place and ready to respond should diplomacy fail.

The Russian initiative gave Obama some breathing space since it has been far from certain whether he would win a vote in Congress on attacking Syria in response to a chemical weapons attack last month that Washington has blamed on Assad's forces.

In a speech of only 16 minutes, Obama gave perhaps the most coherent expression of his Syria policy to date following weeks of muddled messages by his administration as opposition to a U.S. military strike mounted.

"If we fail to act, the Assad regime will see no reason to stop using chemical weapons," said Obama. "As the ban against these weapons erodes, other tyrants will have no reason to think twice about acquiring poison gas and using them."

Under the threat of U.S. missile strikes and with roughly half of Syria controlled by rebels, the Assad government accepted the proposal from its ally Russia earlier on Tuesday.

"It's too early to tell whether this offer will succeed. And any agreement must verify that the Assad regime keeps its commitments. But this initiative has the potential to remove the threat of chemical weapons without the use of force, particularly because Russia is one of Assad's strongest allies," said Obama.

He set no deadlines for diplomacy to run its course but said the United States will work with Russia and China to put forward a resolution at the U.N. Security Council requiring Assad to give up his supplies of sarin, mustard gas and VX nerve agents. Russia and China have been reluctant to support action against Syria.

RELYING ON PUTIN

The Russian diplomatic initiative, which emerged after off-the-cuff remarks by Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday alluding to such an idea, marked a sudden reversal following weeks in which the West seemed headed toward intervening in Syria's 2-1/2-year-old civil war.

Obama now finds himself somewhat dependent on Russian President Vladimir Putin to use his influence on Syria. It is a remarkable turnaround in relations between two leaders who are wary of each other and have bickered all year, particularly over Russia's decision to give temporary asylum to former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden.

Some influential members of Congress were deeply skeptical about whether the diplomatic effort will succeed given U.S. mistrust of both Russia and Assad and the difficulties of verifying chemical weapons stocks during a civil war.

Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, two hawks on Syria, said Washington should introduce a tough U.N. Security Council resolution that lays out what steps Syria would have to take to give up its chemical weapons and threaten serious consequences if the Assad government does not.

"We would expect Russia and China to support such a resolution without delay," they said.

Obama used much of his speech to lay out the case against Syria, saying there was plenty of evidence showing that the Assad government was behind the August 21 chemical weapons attack that killed 1,429 people, including more than 400 children.

He argued that Syria should face consequences for using such weapons because much of the world has adopted a ban them. If the civilized world does nothing to respond, it will only embolden U.S. adversaries and increase the chances that U.S. troops might one day face these weapons on the battlefield, Obama said.

In a sign of the shifting political mood in Washington toward diplomacy, a group of Republican and Democratic senators began drafting a modified resolution on the use of military force that would give the United Nations time to take control of Syria's chemical weapons.

Obama offered a moral argument for why he feels the United States has a global obligation to respond to the Syrian chemical weapons onslaught. He portrayed the August 21 attack near Damascus in graphic terms.

"The images from this massacre are sickening: men, women, children lying in rows, killed by poison gas; others foaming at the mouth, gasping for breath; a father clutching his dead children, imploring them to get up and walk," he said.

Any U.S. military action would be limited, he said, nothing like the Iraq and Afghanistan wars that he has spent much of his presidency winding down. No American troops will be on the ground in Syria if action is taken, Obama said.

"This would be a targeted strike to achieve a clear objective, deterring the use of chemical weapons and degrading Assad's capabilities," he said.

He insisted U.S. military action would still have an impact, pushing back against some members of Congress who argue there is no point in doing a "pinprick" strike in Syria.

"Let me make something clear: The United States military doesn't do pinpricks. Even a limited strike will send a message to Assad that no other nation can deliver," he said.

Still, the overwhelming message from Obama was that he would like to avoid taking military action, a reflection of his personal view toward diplomacy and a response to polls showing Americans are opposed.

It was unclear if Obama had changed any hearts and minds in Congress.

Republican Congressman Chris Collins of New York said Obama's speech had moved him from being undecided to "no" on possible military action.

"I had given the commander in chief the benefit of the doubt. I was hoping the commander in chief would have a compelling argument (for military force)," said Collins. "He did not. He did not even come close."

(Additional reporting by Mark Felsenthal and Thomas Ferraro; Editing by Alistair Bell and Christopher Wilson)

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Syria vows to give up chemical weapons, Obama cautious about deal

1 of 14. Free Syrian Army fighters rest as they eat and drink near Hanano Barracks, which is controlled by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, in Aleppo September 11, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Muzaffar Salman

By Phil Stewart and Khaled Yacoub Oweis

WASHINGTON/AMMAN | Wed Sep 11, 2013 11:04am EDT

WASHINGTON/AMMAN (Reuters) - Syria accepted a Russian proposal on Tuesday to give up chemical weapons but U.S. President Barack Obama said it was too early to tell if the initiative would succeed and he vowed to keep military forces at the ready to strike if diplomacy fails.

In a televised address to Americans, Obama pledged to explore Russia's proposal for Syria to place its chemical weapons under international control, while expressing skepticism about the initiative.

He said he had asked the U.S. Congress to postpone a vote on authorizing military action while Washington and its allies try to pass a United Nations resolution requiring Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to give up the weapons in a verifiable way.

In a sign of how hard that will be, Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier that the chemical weapons plan would only succeed if Washington and its allies rule out military action.

In what amounted to the most explicit, high-level admission by Syria that it has chemical weapons, Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said in a statement shown on Russian state television that Damascus was committed to the Russian initiative.

"We want to join the convention on the prohibition of chemical weapons. We are ready to observe our obligations in accordance with that convention, including providing all information about these weapons," Moualem said.

"We are ready to declare the location of the chemical weapons, stop production of the chemical weapons, and show these (production) facilities to representatives of Russia and other United Nations member states," he said.

Obama said there had been "encouraging signs" in recent days, in part because of the U.S. threat of military action to punish Assad for what Washington says was the use of poison gas to kill 1,400 civilians in Damascus on August 21.

"It is too early to tell whether this offer will succeed," Obama said. "And any agreement must verify that the Assad regime keeps its commitments. But this initiative has the potential to remove the threat of chemical weapons without the use of force."

Moscow has previously vetoed three U.N. Security Council resolutions that would have condemned the Syrian government over the conflict.

The latest proposal "can work only if we hear that the American side and all those who support the United States in this sense reject the use of force," Putin said in televised remarks.

Obama said he was sending Secretary of State John Kerry to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva on Thursday for further talks, and he himself would continue discussions with Putin.

Amid the whirlwind of diplomatic activity focused on the response to the chemical weapons attack, the civil war resumed in earnest on Tuesday with Assad's jets again bombing rebel positions in the capital.

UNITED NATIONS

An initial U.N. Security Council resolution, drafted by France, would demand that Syria make a complete declaration of its chemical weapons program within 15 days and immediately open all related sites to U.N. inspectors or face possible punitive measures.

The French draft resolution, seen by Reuters, adds that the Security Council would intend "in the event of non-compliance by the Syrian authorities with the provisions of this resolution ... to adopt further necessary measures under Chapter VII" of the U.N. Charter.

Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter covers the 15-nation Security Council's power to take steps ranging from sanctions to military interventions. It is the reference to Chapter 7, U.N. diplomats say, that has made Russia reluctant to support the initial French draft.

Russia has made clear it wanted to take the lead on any resolution. Lavrov told his French counterpart that Moscow would propose a U.N. draft declaration, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Obama said he would work with allies as well as Russia and China, both of which have veto powers on the Security Council, to craft a U.N. resolution. He gave no timetable for how long he would wait for such talks to play out.

"Meanwhile, I've ordered our military to maintain their current posture to keep the pressure on Assad and to be in a position to respond if diplomacy fails," Obama said.

The president also reiterated his arguments for why it would be in the national security interests of the United States to punish Syria for using chemical weapons if diplomacy fails.

"If we fail to act, the Assad regime will see no reason to stop using chemical weapons," Obama said. "As the ban against these weapons erodes, other tyrants will have no reason to think twice about acquiring poison gas and using them."

PUTIN: "NO THREAT OF FORCE"

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 and, with the backing of Moscow, blames rebels for staging the attacks to provoke U.S. intervention.

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."

While the prospects of a deal remain uncertain, the proposal could provide a way for Obama to avoid ordering military strikes. Opinion polls show most Americans are opposed to military intervention in Syria, weary after more than a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Whether international inspectors can neutralize chemical weapons dumps while war rages in Syria remains open to question.

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 civil war.

The two main precedents are ominous: U.N. inspectors dismantled the chemical arsenal of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in the 1990s but left enough doubt to provide the basis for a U.S.-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.

SYRIAN REBELS DISMAYED

The Syrian war has already killed more than 100,000 people and driven millions from their homes. It threatens to spread violence across the Middle East, with countries endorsing the sectarian divisions that brought civil war to Lebanon and Iraq.

The wavering from the West dealt an unquestionable blow to the Syrian opposition, which had thought it had finally secured military intervention after pleading for two and a half years for help from Western leaders who vocally opposed Assad.

The rebel Syrian National Coalition decried a "political maneuver which will lead to pointless procrastination and will cause more death and destruction to the people of Syria."

Assad's warplanes bombed rebellious districts inside the Damascus city limits on Tuesday for the first time since the poison gas attacks. Rebels said the strikes demonstrated that the government had concluded the West had lost its nerve.

"By sending the planes back, the regime is sending the message that it no longer feels international pressure," activist Wasim al-Ahmad said from Mouadamiya, one of the districts of the capital hit by the chemical attack.

The Russian proposal "is a cheap trick to buy time for the regime to kill more and more people," said Sami, a member of the local opposition coordinating committee in the Damascus suburb of Erbin, also hit by last month's poison gas attack.

Troops and pro-Assad militiamen tried to seize the northern district of Barzeh and the eastern suburb of Deir Salman near Damascus airport, working-class Sunni Muslim areas where opposition activists and residents reported street fighting.

Fighter jets bombed Barzeh three times and pro-Assad militia backed by army tank fire made a push into the area. Air raids were also reported on the Western outskirts near Mouadamiya.

However, Damascenes in pro-Assad areas were grateful for a reprieve from Western strikes: "Russia is the voice of reason. They know that if a strike went ahead against Syria, then World War Three - even Armageddon - would befall Europe and America," said Salwa, a Shi'ite Muslim in the affluent Malki district.

(Additional reporting by John Irish in Paris, Louis Charbonneau at the United Nations, Thomas Grove and Steve Gutterman in Moscow and Steve Holland, Jeff Mason, Mark Felsenthal, Patricia Zengerle, Arshad Mohammed, Richard Cowan, Paul Eckert and Roberta Rampton in Washington; Writing by Claudia Parsons; Editing by Jim Loney and Christopher Wilson)

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Kerry Won't Rule Out Action Against Syria if Congress Votes No

On Meet the Press on Sunday, Secretary of State John Kerry explained President Obama’s sudden shift in favor of seeking Congressional approval for military action against the Assad regime in Syria. Obama, said Kerry, figured that the United States would have “greater moral authority and greater strength” with Congressional approval, and would demonstrate to the world that the country was “united.” He continued: “He didn't think it was worthwhile acting and having the Syrians and a whole bunch of other folks looking at the United States arguing about whether or not it was legitimate or should he have done it or should he have moved faster.”

Kerry then said that Obama didn’t decide to go to Congress because of low levels of support for action against Syria. He dodged the question as to whether Congress would vote yes on authorization to use force: “We don’t contemplate that Congress is going to vote no.” On ABC, he said, “We are not going to lose this vote.”

Source: Reuters News
Leaders in the U.K. and France weigh in on the path toward military intervention in Syria, after President Obama announces his push for congrssional support. Nathan Frandino reports.



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Kerry: US has evidence sarin gas was used in Syria

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