UNSC Adopts Resolution on Syria Chemical Arms
Local Editor
The United Nations Security Council unanimously passed a resolution ordering the destruction of Syria's arsenal of chemical weapons.
UN Head Ban Ki-moon, who called the resolution "the first hopeful news on Syria in a long time," said he hopes to convene a peace conference in mid-November.
The resolution came after days of intense negotiations between the United States and Russia. They had been at odds over Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which regulates the use of military force.
Resolution 2118, the result of negotiations gives international binding force to a plan drawn up by the two to eliminate Damascus' chemical arms.
The plan calls for Syria's estimated 1,000 tons of chemical weapons to be put under international control by mid-2014. Experts say the timetable is very tight.
The resolution also "condemns in the strongest terms any use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic, in particular the attack on August 21, 2013, in violation of international law."
Commenting on the resolution, US Secretary of State John Kerry hailed it as saying: "The Security Council has shown that when we put aside politics for the common good, we are still capable of doing big things."
But he warned: "Should the regime fail to act, there will be consequences."
For his part, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stressed that there were no automatic punitive measures, and that the resolution applied equally to the Syrian opposition.
He said the council would take "actions which are commensurate with the violations, which will have to prove 100 percent."
Source: News Agencies
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