PARIS (Dow Jones Newswires) -The foreign ministers of the U.S., U.K. and France said on Monday that they will seek a strong United Nations resolution that binds the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to a firm deadline for the removal of its chemical weapons.
“Every one of us understands that the announcement we made in Geneva will not have meaning until this is ratified at the U.N. in the strongest, most forceful terms possible,” said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at a press conference in Paris. “Should diplomacy fail, the military option is still on the table.”
An agreement over the weekend between the U.S. and Russia in Geneva mapped out a framework for Syria to hand over its chemical weapons to international inspectors, but fell short of France’s desire to impose automatic sanctions should Damascus fail to comply.
Instead, the U.S. and Russia have agreed that any sanctions would be part of a separate U.N. Security Council resolution that would be discussed at a later date.
As a first step, the U.S., France and the U.K.– all permanent members of the security council–met to discuss the terms of a first resolution that will lay out the precise framework for disarming Syria of its chemical weapons and could be approved by Friday.
Messrs. Fabius, Kerry and U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague all stressed that a negotiated political settlement was the only lasting way out of the Syrian crisis. Mr. Fabius said France would bolsters its support for the opposition Syrian National Coalition.
