Syria Today Live Coverage : Russia’s Gambit “Assad Gives Up His Chemical Weapons” / A play in endless chapters

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EAworldview – By Joanna Parasczuk – 10.9.2013 – SUMMARY: In a day of political manoeuvres, Russia seized the initiative on Monday with the proposal that the Syrian regime give up its chemical weapons stocks to international supervision.

After meeting his Syrian counterpart Walid al-Muallem, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Damascus should also become a full member of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

Moscow’s move followed remarks by US Secretary of State John Kerry, after a meeting in London, that President Assad could avoid an American attack by handing over the chemical weapons. The State Department later said that Kerry had been speaking “rhetorically” to highlight Assad’s defiance and the danger of the weapons and that he did not expect Damascus to comply

However, Lavrov’s announcement brought a sharp change in position from Washington. In interviews broadcast on Monday night, President said the step was “a modestly positive development” and a “significant breakthrough”. He added that US airstrikes would “absolutely” be postponed if Assad handed over the stocks.

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Trying to present the sudden shift as a victory for his policy, Obama said “a credible threat of a military strike from the United States” had brought the offer.

Leaders of the US Senate followed Obama’s lead, delaying a vote scheduled for Wednesday because of “international discussions”.

A question for consideration: most media presented Russia as taking advantage of a Kerry blunder — but what if the Secretary of State’s message was not a slip? What if the moves were orchestrated between Washington and Moscow?

Russian Media Seize On Israeli Report To Suggest Some Chemical Stocks Under Insurgent Control

Russia’s Interfax news agency on Tuesday has seized on a new academic report by the Israeli International Institute for Counter-Terrorism — an academic department that is part of the Interdisciplinary Center in Hertzliya — to run with this scary headline: Сирийскиеповстанцынекотороевремяконтролировалинеменеедвухобъектовпохранениюхиморужия (“Syrian Rebels Controlled At Least Two Chemical Weapons For Some Time”)

It is notable that Interfax does not question that Assad holds chemical weapons stocks — a move that is in line with statements from Russian officials — but centers its reporting on whether the Syrian Arab Army may have lost control of two of those facilities, at least for a while, to Islamist insurgent factions.

Interfax writes:

At the start of the internal conflict [Syria’s chemical weapons] were concentrated in around 10 bases.

According to experts from ICT, the Syrian authorities control the chemical weapons, however there is no full understanding of the fate of those bases linked to chemical weapons in at least two cities, the control of which passed to the rebels for at least some time.

They note that one of these facilities near Aleppo — whose identity is not specified — was in an area that in August 2012 was controlled by the group Jabhat al Nusra, which is close to Al Qaeda

Interfax’s reporting reflects Russian concerns over the insurgency, particularly over Islamist groups, which, Moscow fears, could spill over into its own internal conflict in the Caucasus.

For its part, the ICT academic report reflects concerns among some in Israel that there could be”a real and immediate threat” that chemical weapons, agents or precursors could fall into the hands of terror groups. It cites multiple scenarios in which Assad could intentionally transfer or lose control of the Syria’s stockpiles of gas, nerve and blistering agents.