REPORT: Obama says US remains prepared to act on Syria if diplomacy fails

       
President Barack Obama welcomed a U.S.-Russian accord on Saturday aimed at getting control of Syrian chemical weapons and warned that if diplomacy fails the United States remains prepared to act.     

In a statement, Obama reacted to the framework deal that emerged from talks in Geneva between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.       

Amid questions about how the deal would be enforced should Syria fail to live up to its obligations, Obama said the United States would work with Russia, Britain, France and the United Nations to ensure there are consequences. Much work remains to be done, he said.         
In turn, the Pentagon said that U.S. military forces were still positioned for possible military strikes on Syria, at least for now, even after a U.S.-Russia agreement on destroying Syria's chemical weapons arsenal.      

"We haven't made any changes to our force posture to this point," Pentagon spokesman George Little said in a statement.       

"The credible threat of military force has been key to driving diplomatic progress, and it's important that the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad lives up to its obligations under the framework agreement," he said.    

This as the United Nations said it had received all documents necessary for Syria to join the chemical weapons convention and that Syria would come under the treaty starting on Oct. 14.          
"The Convention will enter into force for the Syrian Arab Republic on the 30th day following the date of deposit of this instrument of accession, namely on 14 October 2013," the U.N. press office said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States and Russia have agreed on a proposal to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons arsenal, after nearly three days of talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.               

Kerry said that, under the pact, Syria must submit a "comprehensive listing" of its chemical weapons stockpiles within one week.           

For his part, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that a US-Russian deal to remove Syria's chemical weapons arsenal contains nothing about the potential use of force if Syria fails to comply.              

But U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said there was no pre-agreement on what action the U.N. Security Council might take if Syria fails to comply with the plan, which envisages a complete destruction of its chemical weapons by mid-2014.                 

Separately, the opposition Syrian National Coalition on Saturday elected moderate Islamist Ahmad Tumeh as provisional prime minister, coalition members told Reuters.    

Tumeh, a former political prisoner from the eastern province of Deir al-Zor, got 75 votes out of 97 cast in a coalition ballot in Istanbul, the sources said.

          
Positions:          

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said a U.S.-Russia agreement on destroying Syria's chemical weapons is a "significant step forward."              

Hague said there "must now be full and prompt implementation of the agreement, to ensure the transfer of Syria's chemical weapons to international control." And he said all sides should work toward a political solution to Syria's civil war.

For its part, France welcomed a deal between Russia and the United States on destroying Syria's chemical weapons as an "important step forward" and said that talks on Monday in Paris would focus on its implementation.              

"The draft agreement reached in Geneva about eliminating the Syrian regime's chemical weapons is an important step forward," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in a statement shortly after the deal was struck.               

Fabius, who spoke with his U.S. counterpart shortly before the agreement was announced, added that France would clarify its position based on the findings of U.N. weapons inspectors' investigation into a chemical gas attack in Syria last month.      

In turn, the head of the opposition Syrian Supreme Military Council said a U.S.-Russian agreement to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons was a blow to the two-and-a-half-year uprising to remove President Bashar al-Assad from power.
   
General Selim Idris said the deal would allow Assad to escape being held accountable for killing hundreds of civilians in a poison gas attack on Damascus on Aug. 21. Assad has denied responsibility for the attack.

Idris said Assad's forces had started moving some of their chemical weapons to Lebanon and Iraq in the last few days to evade a possible U.N. inspection. The assertion could not be immediately verified.

On the field:

Al-Qaeda-affiliated rebels battled more moderate Syrian opposition fighters in a town along the Iraqi border on Saturday, killing at least five people in the latest outbreak of infighting among the forces opposed to President Bashar Assad's regime.               

Clashes between rebel groups, particularly pitting al-Qaeda-linked extremist factions against more moderate units, have grown increasingly common in recent months, undermining the opposition's primary goal of overthrowing Assad.               

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday's fighting took place in the town of Boukamal between the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant against more mainstream rebel groups.

         
AP/REUTERS


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