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Obama says deal on chemical weapons a plus for all

US president says US-Russia agreement is an important step to achieving world free from fear of chemical weapons; cautions that more work remains even after deal

President Barack Obama says an agreement between the US and Russia offers a chance to destroy Syria's huge stockpile of chemical weapons and promises to end the threat the weapons pose to the region and the world as well as the Syrian people.

 

Obama says the international community expects Syria to live up to its public commitments to hand over its chemical weapons stockpile. Warning that the US remains prepared to act if Syria falls short, he also cautions that more work remains even after the progress the deal represents.

 

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"The use of chemical weapons anywhere in the world is an affront to human dignity and a threat to the security of people everywhere," Obama said in a statement Saturday. "We have a duty to preserve a world free from the fear of chemical weapons for our children. Today marks an important step towards achieving this goal."

 

Meanwhile Iran said that the deal was a sign of US "rationality". Parliament speaker Larijani said in a news conference late on Saturday that any US strike in retaliation for the gas attack would result in a larger conflict in the region and would be against international law, and that US policymakers had realized this.

 

"We are hopeful that American politicians have some rationality so they avoid extremist behavior, and the events of the last few days and the decisions that have been taken indicate this rationality," Larijani said, according to the ISNA news agency on Sunday.

 

Turkey's foreign ministry warned that the agreement, though a positive step, could be exploited by the Syrian government, local media reported on Sunday.

 

In a statement, the ministry said the deal should not be turned into a process that would buy time for Damascus, warning that the planned schedule to strip Syria of its chemical weapons was long enough for it to exploit the deal.

 

In setting out one of the most ambitious arms-control efforts in history, US and Russian officials reached an agreement calling for an inventory of Syria's chemical weapons program and seizing all its components. The agreement includes imposing penalties if Syrian President Bashar Assad's government fails to comply.

 

Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and their teams had been meeting day and night in Geneva to develop a framework for ridding the world of Syria's chemicals weapons. A gas attack in the Damascus suburbs on Aug. 21 prompted a series of events leading to the meetings.

 

The US and others blame Assad's government for the attack, though Assad denies the charge. More than 1,400 people died, according to US estimates, the latest victims of Syria's 2½-year-old civil war. Yet polls showed relatively little support among Americans for a military strike against Syria, even after the Obama administration's efforts to argue that punishing the Assad government for violating international norms of warfare was in the security interests of the US.

 

Obama ordered preparations for American airstrikes, but he decided instead to ask for authorization from Congress for military action. Then came the Russian proposal for international control of Syria's chemical weapons, and Obama asked Congress, already largely opposed to military intervention, to delay a vote.

 

The deal to destroy Syria's chemical weapons also offers the potential for reviving international peace talks to end a civil war that has claimed more than 100,000 lives and sent 2 million refugees fleeing for safety, and now threatens the stability of the entire Mideast.

 

In Congress, Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who are among Obama's sharpest foreign policy critics and support greater US assistance for Syria's rebels, said the agreement will embolden enemies such as Iran.

 

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California credited the president's "steadfast leadership" for "making significant progress in our efforts to prevent the use of weapons of mass destruction."

 

AP, Reuters and AFP contributed to this report

 

 

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פרסום ראשון: 09.15.13, 11:24
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