Syria crisis: Kerry says UN deal ought to include 'consequences' – live updates
Syria crisis: Kerry says UN deal ought to include 'consequences' – live updates
LIVE• Lavrov, Kerry hold joint news conference in Geneva
• Kerry rejects Assad demand for 30 days to list weapons
• Assad says he will engage UN when US 'stops threatening'
• Read the latest blog summary
• Kerry rejects Assad demand for 30 days to list weapons
• Assad says he will engage UN when US 'stops threatening'
• Read the latest blog summary
The Obama administration is telling the Syrian opposition that US strikes against Assad are still a possibility, despite the rather narrow-seeming chance of the president winning the congressional authorization he asked for. (The Daily Kos has rounded up five different whip counts. None of them looks good for the White House.)
The administration has said it may strike without congressional support, despite having sought it and despite overwhelming opposition to such strikes on the part of the American public. (In an average of 12 polls through Tuesday, Real Clear Politics finds opposition to "all US military action in response to chemical weapons use in Syria " at 58.7 versus 30.5 in favor.)
In an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, FSA commander Salim Idris said he had spoken with US secretary of state John Kerry on Thursday about his, Idris', opposition to the so-called Russian proposal.
Kerry said "the threat of the strikes is still on the table,” Idris relayed:
I had a call today with Mr. Kerry and he told me that he will discuss with the Russians how honest the regime is,” he said. “And if our friends discover that the regime is trying to play games and waste time, the threat of the strikes is still on the table.”
In the same interview, Idris declines to revisit comments he made this morning that the opposition has not received weapons from the United States:
I can’t talk about weapons,” he told Amanpour. “We are getting now a lot of support from our American friends, but I can’t talk in detail about all kinds of the support.'
Watch the full interview here.
Summary
Here's a summary of where things stand:
• Disagreements persisted between the two sides negotiating a possible deal to dismantle Syria's chemical weapons. US secretary of state John Kerry said any UN deal "ought to" include "consequences if it doesn't take place," a reference to a use-of-force clause that Russia has rejected. Kerry also dismissed an Assad demand for 30 days to list his arsenal.
• Kerry appeared with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov in advance of bilateral meetings in Syria. Teams of technicians were to help the two sides lay out a timeline on placing Syrian weapons under international control.
• The White House deflected questions about FSA Gen. Salim Idris' claim that the Syrian opposition has received no weapons from the US. "We continue to support the opposition... in tangible ways, through substantial and stepped-up assistance," spokesman Jay Carney said. The Washington Post reported the CIA has begun arming rebels.
• Assad said he would only join negotiations "when we see the United States really wants stability in our region and stops threatening, striving to attack, and also ceases arms deliveries to terrorists." Carney said Assad is not in a position to set conditions.
• The Obama administration and lawmakers attacked an op-ed by Russian president Vladimir Putin in today's New York Times arguing for diplomacy and against US strikes. House speaker John Boehner called it "insulting." Minority leader Pelosi accused Putin of hypocrisy. White House spokesman Jay Carney said there was "a great irony" in the Russian leader freely airing his views in a US newspaper.
Updated
Carney dismisses Assad's conditions in principle:
Conditions and demands by someone who a few weeks ago used chemical weapons on children so we could all watch them die in videos are a little hard to take.
Updated
Good question for Carney: You keep saying Russia has put its prestige on the line with these negotiations. Would you agree that the US put itsprestige on the line too?
"I would agree that the United States, in part because it is an exceptional nation, is called upon to lead in circumstances like this," Carney says.
Q for the White House: The opposition has rejected the Russian proposal outright, accusing the US of abandoning their cause. What's your reply?
"We continue to support the opposition... in tangible ways, through substantial and stepped-up assistance," Carney says.
Then Carney says chemical weapons crossed a line that the daily fighting of the last two-and-a-half years has not:
There is an ongoing sectarian civil war in Syria. We have been appalled... but the president has made clear... we are not putting boots on the ground... to try to resolve someone else's civil war.But when it comes to chemical weapons... we absolutely believe that we have to take action.
Carney says the US still wants Assad to go:
--0-It is still our policy and our view that Syria's future cannot have Assad in the picture. It's inconceivable given what he has done to his own people.---
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posted by Satish Sharma at
01:47
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