A senior official in the US Republican
party declared that the vote at the House of Representative on the military
strike against Syria will take place during the upcoming weeks, without
specifying a date.
This comes as U.S. President Barack Obama has made no decisions about waiting for a U.N. weapons inspectors' report on chemical arms use in Syria and he is keeping all his options open, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Saturday.
For his part, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry welcomed a European Union statement that said there appeared to be strong evidence that the Syrian government carried out a chemical attack on civilians in August.
"We are very grateful for the statement that came out of the meeting today with respect to Syria -- a strong statement about the need for accountability," Kerry said after meeting EU foreign ministers in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.
Earlier, Kerry traveled to Europe on Friday to court international support for a
possible strike on the Syrian regime for its alleged use of chemical weapons
while making calls back home to lobby Congress where the action faces an uphill
battle.
Kerry, the Obama administration's
chief salesman for a punitive strike, landed late Friday in Vilnius, the
capital of Lithuania. He will meet Saturday with European officials about the
Syrian crisis and update them on ongoing peace talks between Israel and the
Palestinians.
Kerry is scheduled to meet on
Sunday in Paris with representatives of Arab nations and then later in the day
hold talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in London, his last stop
before returning to Washington.
Mideast peace and other issues
are on the agenda for Kerry's talks in all three stops, but the ongoing crisis
in Syria where hundreds died in a chemical weapons attack last month will
overshadow his visit. While abroad, Kerry is to continue making phone calls to
members of Congress.
This comes as the European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the EU's 28 nations agreed that available information seemed to show strong evidence that the Syrian government perpetrated a chemical attack in August.
Ashton was speaking at the end of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, where they discussed the situation in Syria and Europe's response.
Russia, which has been a staunch
ally of Assad, remains a stumbling block, but the State Department official
said the US and Russia have resolved some questions about how a second
international conference on Syria would be held. But the official acknowledged
that no date has been set, delegations from the opposing sides have not been
lined up, and questions remain about who needs to be represented at such a
meeting.
This as Germany will sign a Group of 20 statement supported by 10 nations calling for a strong international response to Syria's alleged use of chemical weapons, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said.
"After we saw this excellent and very wise position of the European Union, the (German) Chancellor (Angela Merkel) and myself decided that we support now the G20 statement," Westerwelle said. While the statement called for a strong international response, it fell short of supporting military strikes on Syria that U.S. President Barack Obama is considering.
As well, Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Meqdad urged the US Congress to "show wisdom" petraining to allaqing the US to conduct a military strikes Syria.
For his part, President Barack Obama told his
war-weary country on Saturday that America needs to use limited military force
in Syria to deter future chemical weapons attacks, but said he did not want to
enter into another costly and protracted war.
"This would not be another Iraq or
Afghanistan," Obama said in his weekly radio and internet address,
previewing arguments he will make in a nationally televised address on Tuesday.
A week ago, Obama said he felt limited
strikes in Syria were needed, but added he wanted to ask Congress to authorize
the use of military force.
Obama and his top officials plan an
intensive lobbying effort on Capitol Hill next week, scheduling meetings with
undecided lawmakers.
Obama said failing to respond to the Aug.
21 attack that Washington blames on President Bashar al-Assad's government and that
killed hundreds of children and more than 1,400 people in total, would threaten
US national security by increasing the chance of future chemical attacks from
the Syrian government, terrorist groups, or other nations.
"We are the United States of America.
We cannot turn a blind eye to images like the ones we've seen out of
Syria," he said.
For his part, Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani rebuffed comments attributed to him in which he allegedly criticized Tehran's chief regional ally, Syria, for using chemical weapons against civilians.
The rejection appeared on Rafsanjani's personal website after conservatives claimed the former Iranian president to clarify his stance on Syria.
On another note, upon the initiative
of the Catholic Church, a day of prayers and fasting for peace and against any
military strike on Syria will be held on Saturday across the world, and will conclude with a vigil in St. Peter’s Square, from 7 pm until
midnight, in the presence of Pope Francis.
On the field:
Syrian anti-regime activists said that government shelling has killed 16 people, mostly rebels, near Damascus.
The Britain-based Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights says President Bashar Assad's troops fired mortars
and artillery early Saturday at opposition fighters' positions near Moldokhiya,
an agricultural area south of Damascus, killing 14 rebels. Two civilians also
died in the shelling, The Observatory said.
The groups also reported heavy
fighting between rebels and Assad troops around the Christian village of
Maaloula. The attack, which started Monday, was reportedly spearheaded by
al-Qaida-linked fighters and has added to fears of Syrian religious minorities
over the role of Islamic extremists in the rebel ranks.
AP/LBCI/REUTERS
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