France on Saturday welcomed the Geneva deal as a breakthrough. “The plan is a significant step forward,” Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said.
The United States has estimated that Syria possesses around 1,000 metric tonnes of various chemical agents, including mustard and sarin gas, sulfur and VX.
The Russian estimates had been initially much lower, according to US officials, but Kerry said Saturday that the two countries had reconciled their different assessments.
He also said it would be feasible to locate the weapons, despite the ongoing fighting in many parts of the country.
“One of the reasons we believe this is achievable is because the Assad regime has taken extraordinary means to keep control of these weapons,” he added, noting that the chemical weapons were mainly in regions under Damascus’ control.
“So that’s the silver lining,” he said.
“We should not have a problem achieving access to these sites and that will soon be put to the test,” he added.
Despite the upbeat tone of Saturday’s press conference, Kerry acknowledged that “a hard road” lies ahead and international scepticism about Assad’s good faith was underlined by UN chief Ban Ki-moon.
Assad seemed to have responded “positively” so far, Ban told France 24 television, “but at the same time I sense in the international community some sense of scepticism.”
Ban has also accused Assad of multiple crimes against humanity as he said a UN inspectors’ report into the incident, due to be published next week, would provide “overwhelming” confirmation that chemical weapons were used on August 21.
Washington and Moscow are also hoping to revive plans for peace talks in Geneva that would bring together Assad’s regime and the opposition to agree a political transition to end the war that erupted in March 2011.
Kerry and Lavrov will meet again in a few weeks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, with the hope of setting a date for the stalled peace conference.
As the diplomatic drive intensifies, Kerry will fly to Israel to brief Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday.
He will then travel to Paris to meet French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and British Foreign Secretary William Hague as well as the Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal.
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