The UN Security Council could vote later today on a resolution on ridding Syria of chemical weapons, according to diplomats in New York.
The 15-member Council discussed the draft resolution after the US and Russia agreed the text.
The agreement is seen as a key step in a US-Russia plan brokered this month under which Syria agreed to disclose its arsenal and eliminate it by mid-2014. Russia and China have three times blocked Western-backed resolutions in the Security Council against Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The five permanent members of the UN Security Council reached agreement yesterday on a resolution to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons.
The draft resolution’s demands that Syria abandon its chemical stockpile and allow unfettered access to chemical weapons experts are legally binding. But if Syria fails to comply, the council will need to adopt a second resolution to impose measures under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which allows for military and nonmilitary action to promote peace and security.
Russia, which supports President Assad’s government, and the US, which backs the Syrian opposition, jointly introduced the text to the 10 non-permanent council members last night, supported by the other permanent members, Britain, France and China.
The spark for the recent diplomatic activity was the August 21 poison gas attack that killed hundreds of civilians in a Damascus suburb, and President Barack Obama’s threat of US strikes in retaliation.
