Politics
Syria: Obama to address congress on military strikes, while exploring diplomatic option
U.S. President Barack Obama is going to Congress on Tuesday with fresh hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough that would allow Syria’s government to avoid U.S. missile strikes if it surrenders its chemical weapons arsenal. He addresses the nation from the White House on Tuesday night.
A White House official said Obama has agreed to discussions at the U.N. Security Council on the proposal from Russia, Syria’s closest ally, to secure that country’s chemical weapons stockpiles.
The official said Obama discussed the proposal Tuesday with French President Francois Hollande and British Prime Minister David Cameron. The official requested anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the private conversations by name.
Obama had planned to use his meetings with lawmakers to lobby for targeted strikes against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces in retaliation for last month’s deadly chemical weapons attack outside Damascus.
Instead, he signaled in several interviews Monday evening that surprising new diplomacy could eliminate the risks of another chemical attack without U.S. intervention.
Syria’s foreign minister on Tuesday said the country has accepted Russia’s proposal to place its chemical weapons under international control for dismantling. The proposal emerged Monday after a comment from Secretary of State John Kerry was taken up by Russia, and the United Nations expressed support.
Kerry told Congress on Tuesday that the U.S. was still awaiting a proposal from the Russians about how the plan would work.
