Obama pledges to explore Russia-proposed diplomatic plan on Syria

PanARMENIAN.Net - President Barack Obama pledged on Tuesday, September 10 to explore a diplomatic plan from Russia to take away Syria's chemical weapons, but voiced skepticism about it and urged Americans to support his threat to use military force if needed, according to Reuters.

Faced with resistance in polls and Congress to the use of force against Syria, Obama said a Russian offer to pressure President Bashar al-Assad to place his government's chemical weapons under international control raised the chances of putting off the limited military strike that he is considering.

"Over the last few days, we've seen some encouraging signs," Obama said in televised speech from the White House that attempted to offer a clear case for why it is in Americans' interests to intervene in Syria's civil war.

Obama asked leaders in Congress to put off a vote on his request to authorize the use of military force to let diplomacy play out. He said U.S. Navy ships in the eastern Mediterranean and other forces in the region are in place and ready to respond should diplomacy fail.

The Russian initiative gave Obama some breathing space since it has been far from certain whether he would win a vote in Congress on attacking Syria in response to a chemical weapons attack last month that Washington has blamed on Assad's forces.

Under the threat of U.S. missile strikes and with roughly half of Syria controlled by rebels, the Assad government accepted the proposal from its ally Russia earlier on Tuesday.

According to RIA Novosti, the top diplomats from the United States, Russia and Syria will meet this week to discuss Syria’s chemical weapons, media reports cited unnamed US officials as saying Tuesday. The international debate over the Syria standoff has shifted rapidly over the past 24 hours after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry proposed in an apparent offhand comment Monday that a U.S. strike against Syrian targets could be averted if Damascus put “every single bit” of its chemical weapons under international control by week’s end.

Russia and Syria almost immediately welcomed the proposal, and Lavrov said earlier Tuesday that Moscow would soon put forward a “workable” plan for securing Syria’s chemical arsenal.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that the plan would only be feasible if the United States and its allies pledge not to use force in Syria but expressed hope that it would “be a good step toward a peaceful resolution of the crisis.”