Broader Syria peace talks? Chemical weapons first

Associated Press

GENEVA

The top diplomats from the United States and Russia raised hopes Friday for reviving broad talks to end the long and deadly Syrian civil war, even as they struggled to deal with the most notorious part — the use of chemical weapons on civilians.

The path to a U.N. resolution on securing those weapons seemed at least somewhat clearer, with the U.S. indicating it could accept an enforcement measure that didn’t threaten military retribution.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, leading talks in Geneva to defuse the crisis, both made clear that any prospects for restarting broad peace negotiations depended on first settling the standoff over the chemical weapons. They were to meet today.

The U.S. has been seeking a U.N. Security Council resolution to solidify the turnover that Syrian President Bashar Assad has promised, including consequences if he doesn’t follow through.

Addressing a difficult sticking point, administration officials said Friday that President Barack Obama was open to a resolution that did not include military force as a punishment, given that Russia would be all but certain to veto any measure including such a penalty.

Even without a military trigger included in a U.N. resolution, the officials said Obama would retain the authority to order U.S. air strikes against Syria.

At the White House, Obama said any agreement to remove Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile “needs to be verifiable and enforceable.”

As for possible U.N. action, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, “We are not going to prejudge the outcome of negotiations that are just beginning in New York. The U.S. has been clear that for any effort to be credible it must be verifiable and include consequences for noncompliance.”

Senior administration officials also outlined for the first time a timetable for a diplomatic resolution of the issue of the weapons, saying the U.S. will know within a few weeks whether a path is workable.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the internal deliberations publicly.

U.N. inspectors prepared to turn in their own poison-gas report this weekend.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he expected “an overwhelming report” that chemical weapons were indeed used near Damascus on Aug. 21.