Syria: Chemical Weapons Deal 'A Victory'

The Syrian government has welcomed the international agreement struck on chemical weapons disarmament as "a victory" for the regime.

"On one hand, it helps the Syrians emerge from the crisis and on the other it has allowed for averting war against Syria," Syrian minister of state for national reconciliation Ali Haidar said in an interview with Russian news agency Ria Novosti.

"It's a victory for Syria that was achieved thanks to our Russian friends."

He gave Syria's first reaction to the newly-brokered US and Russian plan as warplanes and artillery bombarded rebel-held areas of Damascus.

Mr Haidar said the agreement would prepare the ground for peace talks between President Bashar al Assad's forces and the rebels.

But the rebels have called the international focus on poison gas a sideshow, and dismissed talk the plan might herald peace talks. They said Mr Assad had stepped up an offensive with ordinary weaponry now the threat of US air strikes had receded.

US President Barack Obama welcomed the nine-month disarmament plan, calling it an "important, concrete step", but warned that "if diplomacy fails, the United States remains prepared to act".

The US and Russia have given Syria seven days to submit a "comprehensive list" of its chemical weapons - otherwise, the US will seek a UN resolution that could still authorise strikes.

On their final day of talks in Geneva, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that once the details had been handed over the Assad regime would have until November to allow UN inspectors access to the sites.

Destruction of the regime's chemical weapons must then be complete by mid-2014. Syria has previously said it would need a month to hand over initial details of its weapons stash.

Mr Lavrov and Mr Kerry also told journalists their teams of experts had reached "a shared assessment" of President Bashar al Assad's existing stockpile.

The US has estimated that Syria possesses around 1,000 metric tonnes of various chemical agents, including mustard and sarin gas, sulfur and VX.

The Russian estimates were initially much lower, according to US officials, but Mr Kerry said the two countries had reconciled their different assessments.

A US official told reporters that Washington believed there were 45 sites across Syria linked to the country's chemical weapons programme.

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