Russia-US chem arms deal ‘prevented war against Syria’ – Haidar

The US-Russian deal on dismantling Syria’s chemical weapons has saved the region from a full-scale war, a minister in the Syrian  government said Sunday.   

The praise for the diplomatic effort, which facilitated Syria joining the Chemical Weapons Convention and defused US plans to launch a missile strike against Damascus comes from Ali Haidar, the Minister of State for National Reconciliation Affairs in the Syrian government. He was speaking to RIA Novosti a day after Saturday’s deal was reached in Geneva.

 “We welcome those accords. On the one hand they will help Syria to find a way out of the crisis, on the other they prevented a war against Syria by eliminating a pretext used by those who wanted to start it,” Haidar said.

He added that the agreement negotiated by Russia’s Foreign Minster Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry is “a victory for Syria, which has been won thanks to our Russian friends.”

The minister added that the agreement gives hope that Syria’s other problems can be resolved soon.

The US-Russian agreement calls for a political resolution of the Syrian conflict, military non-intervention and destruction of the chemical weapons stockpiles in Syria by mid-2014. The UN Security Council is to prepare a resolution, which would formalize the agreement and put it into force.

M.D