US warns Syria of 'real threat of force'

0 Comment(s)Print E-mail Xinhua, September 16, 2013
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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry sent on Sunday a warning message to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, stressing that "the threat of force is real" if Syria fails to fully dismantle its chemical weapon stockpiles, Israeli media reported.

Kerry arrived on Sunday for a one-day visit to Jerusalem in order to brief Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the U. S.-Russian deal to dismantle Syria of its chemical weapons by mid- 2014.

Kerry reassured skeptic Israel that the new deal "has the full ability to strip all of the chemical weapons from Syria."

Assad has agreed to submit an accounting of its chemical arsenal in a week, he added.

Netanyahu said that "the Syrian regime must be stripped of all its chemical weapons, and that would make our entire region a lot safer."

"The determination that the international community shows regarding Syria will have a direct impact on the Syrian regime's patron, Iran," Netanyahu said in statement following the meeting. "Iran must understand the consequences of its continual defiance of the international community, by its pursuit towards nuclear weapons," he added.

On Saturday, the United States and Russia reached in Geneva a framework agreement to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons. According to the deal, by November, international inspectors will visit Syria. Destruction or removal of the chemical weapons must be completed by the middle of next year. 

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