The United States and Russia have agreed on a proposal to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons arsenal, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Saturday after nearly three days of talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The agreement looks to avert the looming military strike which Washington has threatened since last month, in retaliation for the Syrian regime's alleged use of chemical weapons.
Kerry said that, under the pact, Syria must submit a "comprehensive listing" of its chemical weapons stockpiles within one week.
The parties "have committed to a standard that says, verify and verify," he said, adding the world now expects the regime of Bashar al-Assad to honour its commitments under the deal.
Kerry, at a press conference with Lavrov, said that under the agreement, UN weapons inspectors must be on the ground in Syria no later than November. The goal, he said, is the complete destruction of Syria's chemical weapons by the middle of 2014.
Kerry and Lavrov said that if Syria does not comply with the agreement, which must be finalized by the UN's chemical weapons body, it would face consequences under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, the part that covers sanctions and military action.
Kerry said there was no agreement on what those measures would be. U.S. President Barack Obama, he said, reserves the right to use military force in Syria.
"There's no diminution of options," he said.
Lavrov said of the agreement, "There [is] nothing said about the use of force and not about any automatic sanctions."
The negotiations between the U.S. and Russia on securing Syria's chemical weapons also are considered key to a resumption of peace talks to end the 2 ½-year Syrian civil war.
Rebels respond
But Syria's opposition said the deal will not resolve the crisis, and alleged the Assad regime has already begun moving its chemical weapons into neighbouring Lebanon and Iraq to evade inspection.
General Selim Idris, the head of the Syrian Supreme Military Council, said the rebels regard the proposed deal as a blow to their uprising against Assad, but that they would co-operate to facilitate the work of any international inspectors on the ground.
But another council official, Qassim Saadeddine, said the opposite.
"Let the Kerry-Lavrov plan go to hell. We reject it and we will not protect the inspectors or let them enter Syria."
France — the only country which said it was willing to join the U.S. in a strike against Damascus — welcomed the deal as an "important step forward" and said that talks to be held on Monday in Paris would focus on its implementation. Those talks will include the U.S., U.K. and France.
Warplanes strike near Damascus
Despite the diplomatic breakthrough, chemical weapons only account for around 2 per cent of deaths in a civil war in which 100,000 people have been killed.
On Saturday, Syrian warplanes struck against rebel-held suburbs of the capital Damascus and government forces clashed with rebels on the frontlines, according to residents.
The residents and opposition activists asked about the deal said that it would not benefit normal Syrians.
"The regime has been killing people for more than two years with all types of weapons. Assad has used chemical weapons six or seven times. The killing will continue. No change will happen. That is it," said an opposition activist in a rebel-held suburb of Damascus who uses the name Tariq al-Dimashqi.
"The most important point is the act of killing, no matter what is the weapon," he said.
Syrian state media broadcast the Kerry and Lavrov news conference live, indicating that Damascus is satisfied with the deal.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said earlier that a report by UN chemical weapons experts would confirm that poison gas was used in the Aug. 21 attack.
Ban also said that Assad "has committed many crimes against humanity", although he did not say whether it was Assad's forces or rebels who used the gas.
The original drive for a political solution to the conflict, dubbed the "Geneva Plan" and calling for a transitional government, went nowhere as Assad refused to cede power and the opposition insisted he could not be a part of any new political order.
The latest talks prompted Obama to put on hold his plans for U.S. air strikes in response to the chemical weapons attack. Obama is now also spared facing a vote in Congress on military action that he had appeared increasingly likely to lose at this stage.
Experts say removing Syria's hundreds of tonnes of chemical weapons, scattered in secret installations, will pose huge technical problems in the middle of a civil war.
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