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| Assad: Syria needs one year to destroy chemical weapons | Assad: Syria needs one year to destroy chemical weapons |
| (34 minutes later) | |
| Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said he is committed to a plan to destroy his country's chemical weapons but warned it could take about a year. | |
| Speaking to Fox News television, Mr Assad insisted that his forces were not responsible for a deadly chemical attack in Damascus on 21 August. | Speaking to Fox News television, Mr Assad insisted that his forces were not responsible for a deadly chemical attack in Damascus on 21 August. |
| The Syria disarmament plan was unveiled by the US and Russia last weekend. | The Syria disarmament plan was unveiled by the US and Russia last weekend. |
| The West wants the deal enshrined in a UN resolution backed by the threat of military force, but Russia objects. | The West wants the deal enshrined in a UN resolution backed by the threat of military force, but Russia objects. |
| 'Very serious' | |
| Referring to the issue of destroying Syria's stockpiles of chemical weapons, Mr Assad said it was "a very complicated operation, technically". | |
| "And it needs a lot of money, some estimates (say) about a billion. | |
| "So it depends, you have to ask the experts what they mean by quickly. It has a certain schedule. It needs a year, or maybe a little bit more." | |
| Mr Assad's comments come shortly after a senior Russian diplomat said Damascus would fulfil its commitment to eliminate its chemical weapons by mid-2014. | |
| After talks in Syria, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said President Assad was "very serious" about the disarmament plan. | |
| Mr Ryabkov also said that Syrian officials had handed him "material evidence" that showed the rebels were involved in the sarin attack last month, contradicting claims by the US that the regime was responsible. | |
| And the Russian diplomat criticised the United Nations for being "one-sided" in its recent report on the attack - a claim the UN denied. | |
| More than 100,000 people have been killed since Syria's civil war began in early 2011, according to the UN. | |
| Millions have fled the country and millions more have been left homeless. |