Obama welcomes US-Russia Syria chemical weapons plan

US President Barack Obama has welcomed
an agreement between the US and Russia
under which Syria's chemical weapons
must be destroyed or removed by mid-2014
as an "important step".
But a White House statement cautioned that
the US expected Syria "to live up to its public
commitments".
The US-Russian framework document
stipulates that Syria must provide details of its
stockpile within a week.
If Syria fails to comply, the deal could be
enforced by a UN resolution.
China, France, the UK, the UN and Nato have
all expressed satisfaction at the agreement.
In Beijing, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on
Sunday that China "welcomes the general
agreement between the US and Russia".
"This agreement will enable tensions in Syria to
be eased," he said.
However, there has so far been no reaction
from Damascus.
In the White House statement, President
Obama said that the US-Russian deal
"represents an important, concrete step
toward the goal of moving Syria's chemical
weapons under international control so that
they may ultimately be destroyed".
However the president warned that while the
US would continue working with Russia, the
United Kingdom, France, the United Nations
and others to ensure that destruction-or-
removal process was verifiable, there would be
"consequences should the Assad regime not
comply with the framework".
"If diplomacy fails, the United States remains
prepared to act," he said.
The Pentagon has backed up the president,
saying on Saturday that America was still in
position for military strikes.
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