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Post by Admin on Sept 11, 2013 1:34:57 GMT
However, over the last few days, we've seen some encouraging signs, in part because of the credible threat of U.S. military action, as well as constructive talks that I had with President Putin. The Russian government has indicated a willingness to join with the international community in pushing Assad to give up his chemical weapons. The Assad regime has now admitting that it has these weapons and even said they'd join the Chemical Weapons Convention, which prohibits their use. It's too early to tell whether this offer will succeed, and any agreement must verify that the Assad regime keeps its commitments, but this initiative has the potential to remove the threat of chemical weapons without the use of force, particularly because Russia is one of Assad's strongest allies. I have therefore asked the leaders of Congress to postpone a vote to authorize the use of force while we pursue this diplomatic path. I'm sending Secretary of State John Kerry to meet his Russian counterpart on Thursday, and I will continue my own discussions with President Putin. Transcript: Obama's address on Syria
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Post by Admin on Sept 14, 2013 15:35:44 GMT
Russia and the United States put aside bitter differences over Syria to strike a deal on Saturday that by destroying President Bashar al-Assad's chemical arsenal may avert U.S. military action against him. The agreement after three days of talks in Geneva between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov demands that Assad give a full account of his secret stockpile within a week. International inspectors would rapidly get to work to eliminate all the weapons by the middle of next year - an "ambitious" target, in Kerry's words. In furtherance of the objective to eliminate the Syrian chemical weapons program, the United States and the Russian Federation have reached a shared assessment of the amount and type of chemical weapons involved, and are committed to the immediate international control over chemical weapons and their components in Syria. The United States and the Russian Federation expect Syria to submit, within a week, a comprehensive listing, including names, types, and quantities of its chemical weapons agents, types of munitions, and location and form of storage, production, and research and development facilities. We further determined that the most effective control of these weapons may be achieved by removal of the largest amounts of weapons feasible, under OPCW supervision, and their destruction outside of Syria, if possible. We set ambitious goals for the removal and destruction of all categories of CW related materials and equipment with the objective of completing such removal and destruction in the first half of 2014. In addition to chemical weapons, stocks of chemical weapons agents, their precursors, specialized CW equipment, and CW munitions themselves, the elimination process must include the facilities for the development and production of these weapons. The views of both sides in this regard are set forth in Annex B. The United States and the Russian Federation have further decided that to achieve accountability for their chemical weapons, the Syrians must provide the OPCW, the UN, and other supporting personnel with the immediate and unfettered right to inspect any and all sites in Syria. The extraordinary procedures to be proposed by the United States and the Russian Federation for adoption by the OPCW Executive Council and reinforced by a UN Security Council resolution, as described above, should include a mechanism to ensure this right. Under this framework, personnel under both the OPCW and UN mandate should be dispatched as rapidly as possible to support control, removal, and destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons capabilities. The United States and the Russian Federation believe that the work of the OPCW and the UN will benefit from participation of the experts of the P5 countries. The United States and the Russian Federation strongly reiterate their position on Syria as reflected in the Final Communique of the G-8 Summit in Northern Ireland in June 2013, especially as regards chemical weapons. www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2013/09/214247.htm
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Post by Admin on Sept 16, 2013 6:12:49 GMT
In an interview that aired one day after the his administration hammered out a draft agreement with Russia over Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles, Obama told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that he was more worried about the substance of that agreement than the political optics.
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Post by Admin on Sept 16, 2013 16:36:17 GMT
Our intelligence confirms that the regime feared a wider attack from the opposition on Damascus at that moment. Our assessment is that the regime was trying by this attack to loosen the grip and to secure sites strategic to control of the capital. For example, the area of Moadamiyé is located close to the Mezzeh military airfield, which houses the barracks of the Air Force intelligence. Anyhow it is clear, by examining the targets of the attack, than only the regime itself could have targeted positions that were so strategic for the opposition. Finally, we consider that the Syrian opposition does not have the capacity to lead an operation of that size with chemical agents. No group belonging to the Syrian opposition has, at this stage, the capacity to stock and use these agents, and even more in proportions comparable to what was used on the night of August, 21 in Damascus. These groups have neither the experience, nor the know-how to implement them, particularly through vectors as those that were used during the August 21 attack. Impact site 1: In the final stage of this trajectory, the projectile hit and pierced through a vegetal screen existing over one of the adjacent walls, before impacting on the ground producing a shallow crater. The line linking the crater and the piercing of the vegetal screen can be conclusively established and has a bearing of 35 degrees. This line represents an inverse azimuth to the original trajectory or the rocket, that is to say, the original trajectory of the projectile, as it hit the ground, had an azimuth of 215 degrees. Impact site 4: The projectile, in the last stage of its trajectory, hit the surface in an area of earthy, relatively soft, ground where the shaft/engine of the projectile remained dug in, undisturbed until investigated. The said shaft/engine, presenting to form of lateral bending, pointed precisely in a bearing of 285 degrees that, again, represent a reverse azimuth to the trajectory followed by the rocket during its flight. It can be, thus, concluded, that the original azimuth of the rocket trajectory had an azimuth of 105 degrees, in an East/Southeast trajectory. "Chemical weapons have been used" in the Syria conflict, the UN inspectors' report says. "In particular, the environmental, chemical and medical samples, we have collected, provide clear and convincing evidence that surface-to-surface rockets containing the nerve agent sarin were used in Ein Tarma, Moadamiyah and Zamalka in the Ghouta area of Damascus." It says surface-to-surface missiles were used and gives the trajectory of the missiles and some of the hardware used in the attack had Cyrillic lettering and the details in the report serve as "signs of culpability." www.un.org/disarmament/content/slideshow/Secretary_General_Report_of_CW_Investigation.pdf
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Post by Admin on Oct 9, 2013 16:42:09 GMT
Ahmet Ahmet Üzümcü, the Director General of the Organisation for the Prohibilition of Chemical Weapons (the OPCW) gave a rare press conference in The Hague about the international mission in Syria.
The chief of the world's chemical weapons watchdog says the organization has to visit more than 20 sites in Syria as part of the unprecedented international mission to destroy the country's poison gas arsenal, including some where it may be necessary to negotiate cease-fires before they can gain access.
In his first public remarks about the mission, Director-General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Ahmet Uzumcu said Wednesday inspectors have so far visited one site and are about to visit a second. The joint United Nations-OPCW mission entered Syria last week and has already overseen the first stages of destruction of Syria's chemical arsenal. A second team is being sent to Syria to bolster the mission.
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