Baird wary of Syrian deceit and stalling with Russian plan UN bound

OTTAWA – Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird says he’s wary of more Syrian deceit as the United Nations is poised to consider a resolution to turn over the country’s chemical weapons stockpile.

Baird says trusting the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad to comply with the proposed plan would be challenging given “years of deceit” from the regime.

Baird’s assessment came as the United States and France pushed for a tough UN resolution to avert the Syrian crisis.

Syria says it will co-operate fully with a new Russian plan that would see the Assad regime place its chemical weapons under international control and eventually be destroyed.

Canada has backed the U.S. and France in its plan to launch a military strike on Syria for an alleged chemical weapons attack that killed hundreds outside Damascus last month.

President Barack Obama is to address the American public tonight amid waning domestic U.S. support for a strike.