JERUSALEM: Washington’s top diplomat, after talks with Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, warned Syria yesterday that it was not off the hook following a US-Russian deal to destroy its chemical weapons stockpile.
On a whirlwind visit to Jerusalem for talks with Netanyahu on Syria and on peace talks with the Palestinians, US Secretary of State John Kerry made clear that the agreement with Moscow had not removed the option of a US-led military strike.
“The threat of force remains, the threat is real,” Kerry said at a news conference after a four-hour meeting with the Israeli premier.
“Make no mistake, we have taken no options off the table,” he warned after news of the deal appeared to stave off the immediate military threat which emerged following a chemical attack last month on a Damascus suburb.
The agreement, signed in Geneva on Saturday after three days of talks between Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, dominated the news conference with both men saying little on the Palestinian issue.
Although Kerry described the Geneva accord as “the most far-reaching chemical weapons removal effort” ever, he acknowledged it would “only be as effective as its implementation”.
His remarks echoed comments by Netanyahu at a ceremony marking 40 years since the Yom Kippur War, ahead of Kerry’s arrival in Jerusalem.
“We hope that the understandings that have been achieved between the US and Russia regarding Syria’s chemical weapons will show results,” Netanyahu said in remarks communicated by his office.
“Indeed, these understandings will be tested by results: the full destruction of the stocks of chemical weapons that the Syrian regime has used against its own people,” he said.
Kerry kept his remarks on the Mideast peace talks to a minimum.
“We are convinced that the best way to try to work through the difficult choices that have to be made is to do so privately,” he said.
“We will not discuss the substance of what we are working on.”
Netanyahu also said little on the diplomatic process with the Palestinians.
“We both know that this road is not an easy one but we’ve embarked on this effort with you in order to succeed, to bring about a historic reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians that ends the conflict once and for all,” he said, facing Kerry.
AFP
