With action on Syria's chemical arsenal under way, peace talks next
Disagreement among the world's powers on how best to respond to Syria's civil war has dragged on for two years, the death toll climbing beyond 100,000 and the number of refugees and displaced ever mounting. There is hope of a solution now that the UN Security Council has come together on a resolution and timetable for destroying the country's chemical weapons stockpile.
Disagreement among the world's powers on how best to respond to Syria's civil war has dragged on for two years, the death toll climbing beyond 100,000 and the number of refugees and displaced ever mounting. There is hope of a solution now that the UN Security Council has come together on a resolution and timetable for destroying the country's chemical weapons stockpile. A 20-strong disarmament team arrived in Damascus on Tuesday, four days after the deal, proving how determined the international community can be when there is unity. That same resolve has to be applied to ensuring a positive outcome for a peace conference that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon wants in Geneva next month.
The sarin gas attack on a rebel-held district of the capital in August that killed more than 1,400 people, many of them women and children, shocked the world into action. The threat of US military strikes spurred UN inspections and a plan by Syrian ally Russia to eliminate the illegal stockpiles. With a US compromise, the backing of the Security Council's other permanent members, China, Britain and France, and promised compliance by Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad, there is finally agreement where before there had been only bickering. But attaining the target of eliminating as much as 1,000 tonnes of poisonous chemicals by the middle of next year is daunting and dangerous: Never before has such a large-scale task been carried out in the midst of armed conflict.
While Syria is legally obligated to comply with the resolution, there is no threat of force if it reneges. The Security Council can reconvene if there has been a serious breach, though, opening the way for unspecified measures. Still unanswered is who was behind the sarin attack; Assad has denied US accusations it was his forces and Russia has blamed the rebels. A grave crime has been committed and the perpetrator has to be found. But that cannot get in the way of a deal to end the fighting. The unity that has been attained has to be built upon so that there can finally be negotiations.
