UN adopts binding resolution on ridding Syria of chemical weapons

In a move, described as 'historic' by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Security Council has reportedly adopted a binding resolution to remove the chemical weapons stockpile from Syria.

The Secretary General urged the Syrian government to implement the resolution faithfully and without delay, after the 15-member body unanimously backed the draft.

According to the BBC, the resolution demands that Syria abandons its chemical weapons stockpile and allow weapons experts to have unfettered access to the stockpile so as to allow proper dismantling by mid-2014.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said that the UN's decision demonstrated that diplomacy can be so powerful that it can peacefully defuse the worst weapons of war.

However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov hailed the move but pointed out that the resolution doesn't authorize automatic use of force if Syria is held in violation and stressed that the success of the effort wasn't only on Damascus' shoulders and urged for Syrian cooperation.

Kerry said that the resolution would for the first time seek to eliminate entirely a nation's chemical weapons capability.

The report said that Syria is believed to posses more than 1,000 tonnes of chemical agents and pre-cursor chemicals, including blister agent, sulphur mustard, and sarin nerve agent; also thought to have produced most potent nerve agent, VX.