Kerry says Syria should do more than declare chemical weapons, join treaty

WASHINGTON – Secretary of State John Kerry says Syria must do more than just declare its chemical weapons stockpiles and sign the international treaty that bans them if it wants a Russian-led effort to avert U.S. military strikes to work.

Just minutes after Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime announced Tuesday that it would take those steps, Kerry said he hoped that it would “go further” in the interests of peace. He said the Syrian government must “live up to what they said just said they would do” and then co-operate with Russia “to work out a formula by which those weapons could be transferred to international control and destroyed.”

He said the regime should also enter a genuine dialogue with the opposition. Kerry’s comments came during an online Google+ hangout.

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