Saturday 14 September 2013

Obama welcomes Syria deal, expects Assad compliance

US President Barack Obama
welcomed the deal reached Saturday to strip Syria
of chemical weapons but said much remains to
be done and Damascus must comply with the
accord. In a statement, Obama said that if the regime of
President Bashar al-Assad does not live up to the
deal Washington reached with Syria’s ally Russia,
“the United States remains prepared to act.” Obama said the accord was made possible ‘in
part’ by what he called his credible threat to use
force against Syria as punishment for its alleged
use of chemical weapons against civilians last
month. The new accord gives Syria a week to provide
details of its chemical weapons stockpiles, and
says Syria must give international inspectors
unfettered access to them with the goal of
removing them by the middle of next year. “While we have made important progress, much
more work remains to be done,” Obama said. “The United States will continue working with
Russia, the United Kingdom, France, the United
Nations and others to ensure that this process is
verifiable, and that there are consequences
should the Assad regime not comply with the
framework agreed today. And, if diplomacy fails, the United States remains prepared to act,” the
president added.

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