Syria deal 'victory' for Assad 

OLIVER HOLMES

Last updated 09:12 16/09/2013

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Reuters

Despite the progress made on a plan to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons, the US and Israel warn that military force could still be used. Nathan Frandino reports.

SANA

SYRIA PRESIDENT: Bashar al-Assad.

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Syria's government hails as a ''victory'' a Russian-brokered deal that has averted US strikes, while President Barack Obama defended a chemical weapons pact that the rebels fear has bolstered their enemy in the civil war.

President Bashar al-Assad's jets and artillery hit rebel suburbs of the capital again on Sunday in an offensive that residents said began last week when Obama delayed air strikes in the face of opposition from Moscow and his own electorate.

Speaking of the US-Russian deal, Syrian Foreign Minister Ali Haidar told Moscow's RIA news agency: ''These agreements are a victory for Syria, achieved thanks to our Russian friends.''

Though not close to Assad, Ali was the first Syrian official to react to Saturday's accord in Geneva by US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Bridging an angry East-West rift over Syria, they agreed to back a nine-month UN programme to destroy Assad's chemical arsenal.

The deal has put off the threat of air strikes Obama made after poison gas killed hundreds of Syrians on August 21, although he has stressed that force remains an option if Assad reneges. US forces remain in position.

Russia still opposes military action, but now backs possible UN sanctions for non-compliance.

French President Francois Hollande called for a UN resolution on Syria backed by the threat of punitive action to be voted by the end of this week. Hollande also said the option of military strikes must remain on the table.

Kerry, visiting Israel, responded to widespread doubts about the feasibility of the ''the most far-reaching chemical weapons removal ever'' by insisting the plan could work. And he and Obama sought to reassure Israelis the decision to hold fire on Syria does not mean Iran can pursue nuclear weapons with impunity.

Obama embraced the Syria disarmament proposal floated last week by Russian President Vladimir Putin after his plan for US military action hit resistance in Congress.

Lawmakers feared an open-ended new entanglement in the Middle East and were troubled by the presence of al Qaeda followers among Assad's opponents.

Obama dismissed critics of his quick-changing tactics on Syria for focusing on ''style'' not substance.

And while thanking Putin for pressing his ''client the Assad regime'' to disarm, he chided Russia for questioning Assad's guilt over the gas attack.

Responding to concerns, notably in Israel, that a display of American weakness toward Assad could encourage his Iranian backers to develop nuclear weapons, Obama said Tehran's nuclear programme was a ''far larger issue'' for him than Assad's toxins.

''They shouldn't draw a lesson, that we haven't struck, to think we won't strike Iran,'' he told ABC television, disclosing he had exchanged letters with Iran's new president.

''On the other hand, what they should draw from this lesson is that there is the potential of resolving these issues diplomatically.''