In an abrupt change of events, Syria said it "welcomed" a request from its ally Russia to hand over chemical arsenals to be destroyed, in efforts to sidestep a U.S. strike.
No other time frame or specifics were given, the Associated Press reported.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem made the first official statement acknowledging that the Assad Regime had chemical weapons in their possession.
"Syria welcomes the Russian proposal out of concern for the lives of the Syrian people, the security of our country and because it believes in the wisdom of the Russian leadership that seeks to avert American aggression against our people," Moallem said during a visit to Moscow.
He did not specify what exactly his country's plan of action might be from here, and did not answer media questions thereafter.
While he was in Russia, Moallem met to talk with his counterpart, Sergey Lavrov.
Just hours before Moallem spoke, Secretary of State John Kerry claimed that Assad could close the issue surrounding his regime's alleged use of chemical weapons against his own citizens by laying down control of "every single bit" of his arsenal to the international community by Friday.
This call for surrender of weaponry seemed unlikely, as the media largely speculated, but Moallem's recent comments might change the course of the crisis in Syria.
Meanwhile, Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke with President Barack Obama in Washington on Monday. She said Syria giving up its chemical arsenals to the international community was an "important step" in reaching as civil a solution as possible to the issues in Damascus.
Lavrov reported he expected a quick response from Syria-and that it would be a positive one.
"If the establishment of international control over chemical weapons in that county would allow avoiding strikes, we will immediately start working with Damascus," he told AP. "We are calling on the Syrian leadership to not only agree on placing chemical weapons storage sites under international control, but also on its subsequent destruction and fully joining the treaty on prohibition of chemical weapons."
