admin
US President Barack Obama has postponed his request for congressional authorisation for strikes on Syria to pursue a diplomatic solution but he warned the US military would stay on alert to respond should talks fail.In a televised speech on Tuesday, Obama said a Russian offer to persuade Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to give up his stockpile of chemical weapons offered the possibility of heading off the need to take military action.
He said, though, that he was sceptical of the success of the plan, adding that he had kept US forces in a position to attack as he urged Americans to support his threat to use force as a necessary alternative.
The speech came after hours of diplomatic wrangling in Moscow, Damascus and Washington DC, as Syria acknowledged it had chemical weapons and was willing to give them up, and Russia pushed for the US to drop its threat of military action.
Obama said: “It’s too early to tell whether this offer will succeed. And any agreement must verify that the Assad regime keeps its commitments. But this initiative has the potential to remove the threat of chemical weapons without the use of force.
“I have therefore asked the leaders of Congress to postpone a vote to authorise the use of force while we pursue this diplomatic path. I’m sending Secretary of State John Kerry to meet his Russian counterpart on Thursday, and I will continue my own discussions with President Putin.
“I’ve spoken to the leaders of two of our closest allies — France and the United Kingdom — and we will work together in consultation with Russia and China to put forward a resolution at the UN Security Council requiring Assad to give up his chemical weapons and to ultimately destroy them under international control.”
A UN Security Council meeting on the subject was, however, postponed hours before Obama’s speech —suggesting disagreements among members about how the body should proceed.
Meanwhile, UN human rights investigators have in their latest report on the Syria conflict accused both sides of committing war crimes.
The report accused Syrian government troops of massacaring civilians, bombing hospitals and committing other war crimes in their bid to recapture territory from rebel hands in recent months.
The perpetrators of these violations and crimes, on all sides, act in defiance of international law. They do not fear accountability.
Opposition forces, including foreign fighters, have committed war crimes including executions, hostage-taking and shelling civilian neighbourhoods, the report added.
Evidence confirms at least eight massacres have been carried out by Assad’s government and supporters and one by rebels over the past year and a half
“The perpetrators of these violations and crimes, on all sides, act in defiance of international law. They do not fear accountability. Referral to justice is imperative, “ the UN commission of inquiry, led by Brazilian Paulo Pinheiro, said.
The four-member commission also said it was probing nine more suspected mass killings since March. With those, it said, the illegal killing was confirmed but the perpetrator could not yet be identified. In other cases, it said, the circumstances of the killing were not sufficiently clear to be able to determine the legality.
On chemical weapons, the independent experts said they had received allegations about their use “predominantly by government forces.”
“On the evidence currently available, it was not possible to reach a finding about the chemical agents used, their delivery systems or the perpetrators. Investigations are ongoing,” the report said.
A team of 20 investigators carried out 258 interviews with refugees, defectors and others, in the region and in Geneva, including via Skype, for their 11th report in two years. They have never been allowed into Syria despite repeated requests.
The report called for a political solution to Syria’s civil war and urged other states to “stop weapons transfers in view of the clear risk that they will be used to commit serious violations of international law”. — AFP
Online Reporter