Syria opposition dismisses Russian proposal

Syria's main opposition bloc today urged the West to strike Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime despite Russia's initiative to have Damascus surrender its chemical weapons to international control, dismissing the proposal as manoeuvre to escape punishment.
Even as the Syrian National Coalition tried to push back against the proposal, momentum for it was building. In Moscow, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said today that Damascus accepts the initiative, saying it did so to "uproot US aggression."
US Secretary of State John Kerry said yesterday that Assad could resolve the crisis by surrendering control of "every single bit" of his arsenal to the international community by the end of the week.

The proposal is a sudden shift after the United States was preparing for weeks for possible strikes against Assad's regime, which Washington accuses of carrying out an alleged chemical attack near Damascus on August 21 that killed hundreds.
Damascus denies its forces were behind the attack. A leading international human rights group said today that evidence strongly suggests Assad's forces fired rockets with warheads containing a nerve agent most likely sarin.
The SNC, which is the main political opposition umbrella group, has been cheering for international military action, hoping a blow would shift the bloody war of attrition between rebels and Assad's forces, with more than 100,000 dead in more than 2 years of fighting.

In a statement today, the coalition said Moscow's proposal "aims to procrastinate and will lead to more death and destruction of the Syrian people."

"A violation of international law should lead to an international retaliation that is proportional in size," the group said. "Crimes against humanity cannot be dropped by giving political concessions or by handing over the weapons used in these crimes."
In Israel, senior politicians also voiced scepticism about Russia's proposal.
Avigdor Lieberman, a close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the head of the parliament's foreign affairs and defense committee, told Israel Radio that Assad is using the proposal to "buy time." He also said the logistics of a weapons transfer are unclear.

Israeli President Shimon Peres warned yesterday that negotiations over a weapons transfer would be "tough" and that Syria is "not trustworthy.