L
LequteMan
Guest
US President Barack Obama has put military action against Syria on hold and vowed to pursue diplomacy to remove the regime's chemical weapons.
The US had threatened to strike Syria after a gas attack killed hundreds last month.
Damascus has admitted for the first time that it has chemical weapons, and has agreed to abide by a Russian plan to hand over its arsenal.
Late on Tuesday, Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid Muallem made a full public admission of the regime's stockpile and a much clearer commitment to the Russian plan.
"We are ready to inform about the location of chemical weapons, halt the production of chemical weapons, and show these objects to representatives of Russia, other states and the United Nations," he said.
"Our adherence to the Russian initiative has a goal of halting the possession of all chemical weapons."
But according to the BBC's Daniel Sandford in Moscow, there still appears to be disagreement between the Russians and the Syrians over whether the weapons should be destroyed or not.
In a televised speech from the White House, President Obama said the Russian plan and the regime's admission that it held chemical weapons were "encouraging signs".
"It's too early to tell whether [the Russian plan] will succeed, and any agreement must verify that the Assad regime keeps its commitments," he said.
"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."
He said the diplomatic movements were in part a result of the credible threat of US military action, but that he was willing to hold off pushing for a congressional vote in order to allow diplomacy to be pursued.
He added: "Meanwhile, I've ordered our military to maintain their current posture, to keep the pressure on Assad and to be in a position to respond if diplomacy fails."
He confirmed earlier reports that US Secretary of State John Kerry would meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Geneva on Thursday, adding: "I will continue my own discussions with President Putin."
France is the only other country to commit publicly to intervene militarily, saying its forces would also remain "mobilised".
