As talks continue today between the US and Russia on thrashing out a deal in Switzerland on how to put Syria's chemical weapons beyond use, the Bishop of Guildford has warned against any military intervention from the West, whatever the outcome. It comes as the US Secretary of State has given a cautious welcome to Syria's President's confirmation he will sign up to an agreement to put his chemical arsenal under international supervision. Bashar al Assad confirmed the news on Russian TV, but denied it was prompted by the threat of military action.
John Kerry has been meeting his Russian counterpart in Geneva, and said negotiations are still at a delicate point:
"Expectations are high.
"They are high for the United States, perhaps even more so for Russia to deliver on the promise of this moment. This is not a game."
America has said force might still be necessary in Syria, if the Assad regime doesn't hand over its stockpile of chemical weapons. However, the Rt Revd Christopher Hill tells Premier that would still be the wrong action to take:
Mr Kerry and Sergei Lavrov are holding a second day of talks in Geneva, where they are working on a plan to remove Syria's chemical weapons and avert American military action. They held discussions this morning with UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi before the main meeting. After the talks, Mr Kerry said the US and Russia agreed to meet again in New York later this month to try to set a date for a long-delayed peace conference.
"We are committed to trying to work together, beginning with this initiative on the chemical weapons, in hopes that those efforts could pay off and bring peace and stability to a war-torn part of the world,"
Mr Kerry told a joint news briefing. But he said the chances for a peace conference "will obviously depend on the capacity to have success here...on the subject of the chemical weapons". The peace talks, first proposed during Mr Kerry's visit to Moscow earlier this year, have failed so far to materialise, while the fighting on the ground in Syria has intensified. But the issue of chemical weapons was set to dominate the day, after Syria earlier applied to join the Chemical Weapons Convention. The treaty bans the production, use and stockpiling of chemical weapons, but Syria's opposition National Coalition said it was "deeply sceptical" about the move. However Russia, Iran and China have welcomed Syria's decision to join the treaty. Syrian President Bashar al Assad has also said the process of surrendering the stockpile would begin when he hands over information on the weapons in 30 days. However, the US has firmly rejected that timetable and wants more immediate action. Mr Kerry said despite 30 days being normal procedure, Syria's words were "simply not enough".