REPORT: Israeli officials express dismay about Obama's handling of the Syria crisis

 U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry assured Israel on Sunday a U.S.-Russian deal to remove Syria's chemical weapons would be effective, addressing concern that a lack of resolve would embolden Iran in its nuclear drive.
   
"We cannot have hollow words in the conduct of international affairs, because that affects all other issues, whether Iran or North Korea or others," Kerry said after talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
  
 Kerry briefed Netanyahu on what he called "the most far-reaching chemical weapons removal ever", after the Israeli leader said the deal would be judged on whether it achieved the arsenal's "complete destruction".
   
Israeli officials had privately expressed dismay about U.S. President Barack Obama's handling of the Syria crisis, fearful that any failure to follow through with threatened military action would encourage Iran to press on with its nuclear work.
   
"The Syrian regime must be stripped of all its chemical weapons, and that would make our entire region a lot safer," Netanyahu said after his talks with Kerry.
   
"The determination the international community shows regarding Syria will have a direct impact on the Syrian regime's patron Iran. Iran must understand the consequences of its continual defiance of the international community by its pursuit towards nuclear weapons," Netanyahu added.
   
Standing alongside Netanyahu, Kerry said the framework agreement he reached with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva on Saturday "has the full ability ... to strip all of the chemical weapons from Syria".
   
Kerry reiterated that the military option remained should Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fail to comply with the deal.
 

REUTERS


To watch the full LBCI report, please click on the video above.