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Smoke billows from the site of an ammunitions depot blast in the Wadi al-Zahab district of Homs, on August 1, 2013/AFP

World

Syria gives Russia ‘new evidence’ on chemical attack

Diplomats have said that France and Britain are preparing a draft resolution at the United Nations that will demand a threat of sanctions if Assad does not comply with the chemical disarmament plan.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon is to meet with the foreign ministers of the five key nations in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, and three days later, with the top diplomats of the US and Russia, to help resolve the Syria crisis, he said Tuesday.

Ban said the attacks with banned chemical weapons were only the “tip of the iceberg,” and urged the major powers to take a “broader” look to tackle the fighting as well as the humanitarian strife.

The United Nations permanent Security Council members held new negotiations on Tuesday on the wording of a resolution to back the Russia US accord.

Diplomats said ambassadors discussed a French text which included a demand for action under Chapter VII of the UN Charter which allows the use of force and tough sanctions if Assad does not stick to the plan.

But Ryabkov said he assured the Syrian side that there was “no basis” for a UN Security Council resolution on the chemical weapons agreement to invoke Chapter VII.

He said this could only be considered if the UN Security Council was able to confirm violations of the convention on chemical weapons. “This is a hypothetical situation.”

“It is especially important that some kind of political interests do not again appear, especially in New York (at the UN Security Council),” he added.

Yet Washington insisted Tuesday a Chapter VII resolution remained an option under the terms of the weekend agreement.

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The United States had moved to the brink of a military strike on Syria after blaming Assad’s regime for the attack which it said left 1,400 people dead.

The strike however was put on hold last week as Syria agreed to a fast track accession to the international convention banning chemical weapons, formally agreed by the US and Russia in Geneva.

The 30 month long conflict in Syria has killed more than 110,000 people, according to rights groups, and refugees have flooded countries in the region and beyond.

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