Ban to Present Key Syria Chemical Weapons Report
U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon will on Monday present a report on Syria's chemical weapons, increasing pressure on the Assad regime, as support grows for a U.S.-Russian initiative to avert war.
Ban will unveil the findings of a U.N. investigation team to the U.N. Security Council in New York at 11:15am (1515 GMT). He has already revealed that he expects the report to provide "overwhelming" confirmation that chemical arms were used in an attack near Damascus on August 21 in which hundreds died.
The Russia-U.S. accord on the dismantling of Syria's chemical stockpile will also weigh heavily on Security Council consultations expected to be called Monday.
International support for the initiative is growing, even as Washington and Paris warned that military action remains an option.
Washington is seeking to bolster international support for the agreement signed in Geneva on Saturday, which demands rapid action from Damascus.
The ambitious plan to dismantle and destroy Syria's chemical arms stockpile -- one of the largest in the world -- by mid-2014 was thrashed out over three days in Geneva between Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
It gives Assad a week to hand over details of his regime's arsenal of the internationally banned arms in order to avert unspecified sanctions and the threat of U.S.-led military strikes.
It also specifies there must be immediate access for arms control experts and that inspections of what the U.S. says are some 45 sites linked to the Syrian chemical weapons program must be completed by November.
The deal won the important backing of China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, which like Russia has blocked several U.N. resolutions on Syria.
The UN report delivered Monday will influence any attempt by the Security Council to agree a resolution backing the Russia-U.S. accord. Lavrov has made clear Russia will not allow any U.N. resolution that approves the use of force if Assad does not carry out the accord. Western nations insist there must be "consequences.”
The report promises to be very technical, with details of the missile used and possibly the trajectory of the missile, according to diplomats.
The mid-2014 deadline for the destruction of Syria's chemical stockpiles "seems to be a complete fantasy," Olivier Lepick of the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris told AFP.
"Given the civil war, I don't think it can happen."
Kerry said the joint plan would be encapsulated in a Security Council resolution drawn up under Chapter Seven of the U.N. charter, which provides for enforcement through sanctions, including the possible use of military force.
But with Russia strongly opposed to the use of military threats against its long-term ally Syria, Kerry acknowledged it would be up to debate in the Security Council over what sanctions to impose.
Source: Agence France Presse
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