Deal Reached on UN’s Syria Disarmament Resolution

Vote Expected on Friday

Multiple officials familiar with the situation are now confirming that a compromise resolution on Syria’s chemical weapons disarmament plan has been reached, and that the UN Security Council is going to bring the matter to the Council around 8:00 PM eastern time, though they say a vote is not expected until Friday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says that there was an “understanding” reached on the last matter, which as of yesterday was the Western demands for military action.

Russian officials have previously indicated that they were willing to allow some references to Chapter 7 on the UN Charter, which would theoretically allow military action, but only if the text didn’t include any specific grounds for activating it.

Russia has been extremely concerned about any mention of military action in any resolutions on Syria, after NATO nations used an authorization for a no-fly zone in Libya as justification for a full-scale war of regime change. The resolution only mentions Chapter 7 in the context of future use of chemical weapons by “anyone” inside Syria.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.