Local Editor

The secretary-general of the NATO, Anders Rasmussen's, said on Thursday that the option of carrying out a military strike or similar operation in Syria must be kept open as a way of dealing with the crisis.

His comments came as the world's chemical weapons watchdog said it is to meet Friday to discuss a Russian-US plan for the destruction of Syria's chemical arsenal.

Rasmussen welcomed a US-Russian agreement, but said it was essential for keeping momentum in the diplomatic and political process that the military option remained on the table.
"I think, irrespective of the outcome of the deliberations in the UN Security Council, the military option will still be on the table," Rasmussen said at an event organized by the Carnegie Europe think tank.

Meanwhile, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons [OPCW] will meet to consider the "elimination of Syrian chemical weapons", director general Ahmet Uzumcu said in a statement Thursday.

The Hague-based OPCW's 41-member Executive Council will discuss the Russian-US plan agreed at the weekend in Geneva in a bid to avert US-led military strikes on Syria, blamed by the West for a chemical weapons attack in August.

The OPCW is charged with implementing the Chemical Weapons Convention, which Syria asked to join amid growing calls for military action against Damascus.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team