US-Russia deal on Syria will be judged on whether it achieves results, which is “the complete destruction” of Bashar Assad’s chemical weapons stockpiles, Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said.
The US Secretary of State, John Kerry, has arrived in Jerusalem
to brief Netanyahu on the agreement he reached with Russian
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Geneva on Saturday.
The accord calls on the Syrian government to provide information
on its entire chemical arsenal, which will then be utilized by
the international inspectors until mid-2014.
The US-Russia deal “has the full ability... to strip all of
the chemical weapons from Syria” Kerry assured the Israeli PM
during the meeting.
The Secretary of State also repeated that threat of the US-led
military campaign against Syria remains real if Assad fails to
comply with the accord.
In his speech before talks with Kerry, Netanyahu also expressed
hope that “the understandings” reached between Moscow and
Washington on Syrian chemical weapons will be fulfilled, adding
that “the determining factors will be actions and results –
not words.”
“These understandings will be judged by their result – the
complete destruction of all of the chemical weapons stockpiles
that the Syrian regime has used against its own people,” he
said.
"In any case, Israel must be poised and ready to defend itself,
by itself, against any threat – and this capability and readiness
are more important now than ever," the Israeli PM stressed.
Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz, who is close
to Netanyahu, said the US-Russia deal has both “disadvantages
and advantages” for the Jewish state.
"On the one hand, it lacks the necessary speed. On the other
hand, it is much more comprehensive, as it includes a Syrian
commitment to dismantle the manufacturing facilities and to never
again produce (chemical weapons)," he told Israeli Army
Radio.
The chairman of the Israeli parliament's Foreign Affairs and
Defense Committee, Avigdor Lieberman, also appeared on Army
Radio, stressing that Israel’s intelligence would be very helpful
in verifying the completeness of information Syria provides on
its chemical arsenal.
"We will understand Assad’s intentions only in a week when he
is meant to hand over a full list of all the chemical weapons at
his disposal, and I think Israel has a not bad idea of what
chemical weapons he has," he said.
Meanwhile, Reuters reports that Israeli officials have expressed
dismay in private about the way Barack Obama has handled the
Syria crisis.
They fear that the possible failure to follow through with the
military action against Assad will give courage to Israel’s main
rival in the region, Iran.
The US and its allies blame Assad forces for using sarin gas
against peaceful civilians in an alleged chemical attack near
Syrian capital, Damascus, on August 21.
Despite the Syrian government denying accusations and no proof of
its guilt being presented by Washington, Obama announced that
there’ll “limited military” action against Assad as use of
chemical weapons can’t be tolerated.
But the US strikes were put on hold after a Russian proposal to
hand the Syrian chemical weapons arsenal to international
inspectors for destruction was fully backed by Assad’s
government.
The civil war, in which the government is fighting the
Western-backed Islamist militants, has been raging in Syria since
March 2011, claiming over 100,000 lives, according to UN
estimations.