JERUSALEM
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday sent a strong warning to
Syria, saying "the threat of force is real" if it does not carry out an
internationally brokered agreement to hand over its chemical weapons.
Sec. Kerry claims "threat of force is real" in Syria
U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry, center, walks towards U.S. Special Envoy
for Israeli and Palestinian Negotiations Martin Indyk, not seen, after
arriving at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, Sept. 15,
2013. /AP Photo
JERUSALEM
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday sent a strong warning to
Syria, saying "the threat of force is real" if it does not carry out an
internationally brokered agreement to hand over its chemical weapons.
Kerry issued the warning during a stop in Jerusalem to discuss the crisis in Syria,
where he briefed jittery Israeli leaders on the new U.S.-Russian plan
to rid neighboring Syria of its chemical weapons by the middle of next
year. In comments aimed at his hosts, Kerry said the deal also served as
a "marker" for the international community as it deals with Iran's
suspect nuclear program.
"We cannot have hollow words in the conduct of international affairs," Kerry said.
The
U.S. has been formulating its response to an alleged chemical attack
carried out by Syrian forces that killed hundreds of civilians last
month. "These are crimes against humanity and they cannot be tolerated,"
Kerry warned.
In a deal meant to avert a threatened U.S. military strike, U.S. and Russian officials reached an ambitious agreement
over the weekend calling for an inventory of Syria's chemical weapons
program within one week. All components of Syria's chemical weapons
program are to be removed from the country or destroyed by mid-2014. The
Syrian government has yet to issue an official statement on the
agreement.
The deal was greeted with cautious optimism in
Israel, where leaders expressed satisfaction that Syria, a bitter
enemy, could be stripped of dangerous weapons but also pessimism about
whether Syrian President Bashar Assad will comply.
In the U.S., many have also voiced concern that Russia gained an
advantage over the U.S. with the deal, and that whatever they agreed
upon is hollow. President Obama, in an interview aired Sunday on ABC, said this is not the case.
"You
know Mr. Putin and I have strong disagreements on a whole range of
issues," he said. "But I can talk to him. We have worked together on
important issues. The fact of the matter is is that we couldn't be
supplying all of our troops in Afghanistan if he weren't helping us...in
transporting those supplies through the...northern borders of
Afghanistan...We've worked together on counterterrorism operations.
"The
fact of the matter...is that if Russia wants to have some influence in
Syria, post-Assad, that doesn't hurt our interests," Mr. Obama saad. "I
know that sometimes this gets framed or or looked at through the lens of
the U.S. versus Russia. But that's not what this is about."
Israel has repeatedly voiced concern that Assad, locked in a
two-year-old civil war, may fire his chemical weapons at Israel in a
bout of desperation or that the weapons could fall into the hands of
Hezbollah or other hostile groups fighting in the Syrian civil war.
Perhaps
more critically, the Israelis also fear that a tepid international
response to Syria could encourage Iran to press forward with what is
widely believed to be a nuclear weapons program. Iran denies its nuclear
program has a military purpose and says it is pursuing peaceful
applications like cancer treatment and power generation.
Standing
alongside Kerry, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the
U.S.-Russia deal and stressed his belief that it would have deep
repercussions on Iran, Syria's close ally.
"The world
needs to ensure that radical regimes don't have weapons of mass
destruction because as we have learned in Syria if rogue regimes have
weapons of mass destruction they will use them," Netanyahu said.
"The
determination the international community shows regarding Syria will
have a direct impact on the Syrian regime's patron Iran. Iran must
understand the consequences of its continued defiance of the
international community by its pursuit toward nuclear weapons," he
added.
He said the deal proved that "if diplomacy has any chance to work, it must be coupled with a credible military threat."
With
a nod toward these Israeli concerns, Kerry stressed that the deal with
Russia was merely a "framework," and much would depend on Syria.
"The
threat of force is real and the Assad regime and all those taking part
need to understand that President Obama and the United States are
committed to achieve this goal," Kerry said.
He also said
the agreement, if successful, "will have set a marker for the standard
of behavior with respect to Iran and with respect North Korea and any
rogue state, (or) group that tries to reach for these kind of weapons."
Ahead of Kerry's arrival, some Israeli politicians voiced skepticism, saying Assad cannot be trusted.
Intelligence
Minister Yuval Steinitz said the plan was more "substantive" than
earlier proposals, but warned the agreement's deadline was not speedy
enough and Assad could try to hide weapons.
"We know
Assad. All kinds of things could happen," he said, adding that an
agreement on chemical weapons should not absolve Assad of punishment for
the acts he has committed against the Syrian people.
Avigdor
Lieberman, chair of parliament's foreign affairs and defense committee,
told Army Radio that Israel would compare its own intelligence
assessments of Syria's weapons to the inventory Syria submits, which the
plan requires him to do in a week.
"After we see the
list of what Assad has handed over in a week, we can know if his
intentions are serious of if it is just deception," Lieberman said.
After
their news conference, Kerry departed for Paris where he was to discuss
the Syria plan with his French, British, Turkish and Saudi counterparts
on Monday.
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