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| Syria conflict: US issues warning on chemicals plan | Syria conflict: US issues warning on chemicals plan |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The US has said it will wait for details of a Russian proposal on Syrian chemical weapons but warned it would not permit "delays and avoidance". | The US has said it will wait for details of a Russian proposal on Syrian chemical weapons but warned it would not permit "delays and avoidance". |
| US Secretary of State John Kerry said the plan must be "swift and verifiable" and warned its implementation would be "exceedingly difficult". | US Secretary of State John Kerry said the plan must be "swift and verifiable" and warned its implementation would be "exceedingly difficult". |
| Syria has said it accepts the Russian plan to put the chemical weapons under international control. | |
| The US, UK and France will table a UN Security Council resolution later. | |
| France earlier said the resolution would be strong and call for the control and subsequent destruction of the chemical weapons. | |
| Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the resolution would threaten "extremely serious" consequences if Syria breached its conditions. | Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the resolution would threaten "extremely serious" consequences if Syria breached its conditions. |
| The US alleges that Syrian government forces carried out a chemical weapons attack in Damascus on 21 August, killing 1,429 people. | |
| The Syrian government blames the attack on rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, in a conflict that the UN says has claimed some 100,000 lives. | |
| 'Hard look' | |
| Mr Kerry said that if the UN were used as the vehicle for pursuing the Russian plan, it must not become a debating society. | Mr Kerry said that if the UN were used as the vehicle for pursuing the Russian plan, it must not become a debating society. |
| He told a hearing of the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee the US was waiting for details of the Russian proposal, "but we're not waiting for long". | |
| He said: "President Obama will take a hard look at it. But it has to be swift, it has to be real, it has to be verifiable. | |
| "We have to show Syria, Russia and the world we are not going to fall for stalling tactics." | |
| Mr Kerry urged Congress to stand by Mr Obama, saying the president was not asking for a declaration of war, simply for the power to show that the US "means what we say". | |
| There have been few details so far of Russia's plan, but Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier in Moscow that it was "preparing a concrete proposal which will be presented to all interested sides, including the US... a workable, specific, concrete plan". | |
| Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, who is in Moscow, was quoted by Russian news agency Interfax as saying: "We held a very fruitful round of talks with [Mr Lavrov] yesterday and he proposed an initiative relating to chemical weapons. And in the evening, we agreed to the Russian initiative." | |
| This would "remove the grounds for American aggression", he said. | |
| The US Senate had been expected to vote this week on a resolution authorising military force, but the Russian plan has led to a postponement. |