Syria Chemical Weapons Disarmament Agreement Agreed to By Russia and the United States

The meeting in Geneva between Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was ultimately successful; the two countries came to an agreement on how to identify and seize all of Syria's chemical weapons, according to the Washington Post.

The agreement between the two nations will be accompanied by a United Nations Security Council resolution that will provide consequences through sanctions or other means if Syria fails to comply with the stipulations laid out in the agreement. Syria must hand over an inventory of their chemical weapons cache in a week, according to the Post.

International inspectors must be allowed into Syria to begin work by the start of November with destruction of the weapons expected to be completed by the middle of 2014, the New York Times reports.

In a press conference alongside his Russian counterpart Kerry said that he hopes seizing Assad's chemical weapons can help lead to a peaceful end of the Syrian civil war, according to the BBC.

"We could also lay the groundwork for further co-operation that is essential to end the bloodshed that has consumed Syria for more than two years," Kerry said. "What we agreed on here today could conceivably be the first critical concrete step in that direction."

Only one week ago it appeared as if the United States were prepared to take military action against Syria, most likely through the use of cruise missiles without the presence of soldiers on the ground, to punish Bashar al-Assad's government for their alleged use of chemical weapons.

On Monday Russia announced that they were willing to seize the chemical weapons owned by the Syrian government and destroy them; Assad quickly agreed to the Russian proposal. Some in the United States, notably John McCain, thought that this was nothing more than a stalling tactic by Assad's government but the success of the Geneva talks prove otherwise.

Prior to the agreement being announced President Barack Obama expressed guarded support for it in his weekly radio address.

"If the current discussions produce a serious plan, I'm prepared to move forward with it," president Obama said. "But we are not just going to take Russia and Assad's word for it. We need to see concrete actions to demonstrate that Assad is serious about giving up his chemical weapons."

Gen. Salim Idriss, the leader of the Syrian opposition forces, held a press conference in Istanbul after the agreement was made to denounce the plan. Idriss said that there needs to be punishment for Assad; not only for the alleged chemical weapons strike but for all of the attacks on Syrian people using conventional means, according to the Washington Post.

"What about the murderer Bashar who gave the order? Should we forget him?" Idriss said. "We feel let down by the international community. We don't have any hope."

The agreement can be read in its entirety at this link.

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