Zee Media Bureau/Supriya Jha
Damascus: The US and Russia might have taken a big step together in the direction of averting an attack on Assad regime but Syrian rebels have already written off their plan to dismantle chemical weapons.
The discontent with the plan agreed upon by John Kerry and Sergei Lavrov was apparent when a Syrian rebel commander was quoted by a news agency as saying, "Let the Kerry-Lavrov plan go to hell. We reject it and we will not protect the inspectors."
On the other hand, Salim Idris, general of the rebel Free Syrian Army said he would protect the chemical arms inspectors but he too ticked off the US-Russia plan to disarm Assad regime of chemical weapons questioning the feasibility of the plan.
Claiming that Assad had already deployed chemical weapons in Lebanon and Iraq, rebels’ general Idris said it was impossible to accept the deal and that he would continue to battle the government forces.
"As the regime already started to deploy the chemical weapons in Lebanon and Iraq, it is impossible for us to accept the destruction of the chemical weapons in 2014," he said.
After three days of marathon negotiations in geneva, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov finally agreed on a chemical arms disarmament plan for Syria according to which Assad must declare and cede his entire stock of chemical stockpile within a week and permit international inspectors eliminate the weapons by 2014.
Obama welcomed the plan but not without a threat. "If diplomacy fails, the United States remains prepared to act," Obama said.
