UNITED NATIONS (United States) (AFP) - Syria is "comfortable" with a UN Security Council resolution on destroying its chemical weapons and will not discuss the future of President Bashar al-Assad, the country's foreign minister said Saturday.

Walid Muallem told reporters the resolution voted by the 15-nation council late Friday meant the opposition could be the target of UN sanctions.

"I am comfortable with the resolution," Muallem said at the UN headquarters where he will give Syria's address to the UN General Assembly on Monday.

"It calls for Chapter VII against the terrorists," the foreign minister added.

Assad's government habitually calls the opposition groups battling to overthrow him "terrorists".

The UN resolution allows the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to start a mission this week to collect and destroy Syria's arms.

It does not allow for immediate sanctions under Chapter VII of the UN Charter in Syria, but there could be a new vote on measures if the disarmament accord is violated.

The UN says chemical weapons were used in an August 21 attack in Damascus that left hundreds dead. The United States and other western nations blame government forces for the killings. Assad's government says opposition rebels were behind the sarin gas attack.

Muallem said he was "worried" that opposition groups have chemical weapons.

The UN is also hoping to organize a Syria peace conference in mid-November to negotiate a transitional government. But Muallem signaled that there could be no talk of Assad's departure, as the opposition and Western nations have demanded.

"There can be no discussion of the future of President Assad. It is in the constitution," Muallem said.

US President Barack Obama told the UN General Assembly again this week that Assad would have to quit.

Muallem said Assad was determined to see out his term and would stand for re-election. Assad has said there will be an election in 2014.

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'There can be no discussion'

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Smiling and waving flags, Iranians from across the political spectrum welcomed President Hassan Rouhani home Saturday with cheers for his historic phone conversation with his American counterpart. But pockets of anger over the new contact between the two enemy nations signaled challenges ahead.

Hard-liners opposed to any improved contact with Washington made their objections clear as several dozen protesters chanting "Death to America" tried to block his motorcade in Tehran. The semiofficial Mehr news agency reported that at least one demonstrator hurled a shoe — a common gesture of contempt in the Middle East — in Rouhani's direction. Other reports said eggs were thrown at his car.

"Dialogue with Satan is not 'hope and prudence,'" some chanted, using the Rouhani's campaign from the June presidential election.

Rouhani supporters, meanwhile, greeted him with placards thanking him for seeking peace instead of confrontation. One banner read: "Yes to peace, no to war."

Friday's 15-minute phone call between Rouhani and President Barack Obama capped a week of drama revolving around Rouhani's participation in the annual U.N. meeting of world leaders.

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Supporters of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, wave Iranian flags, upon his arrival from the U.S. n …

The Iranian leader now has the difficult mission of trying to unite the country behind his outreach to ease a three-decade-long estrangement with the U.S. and move toward a possible settlement to roll back sanctions imposed over Tehran's nuclear program. The West says Iran's program aims at developing weapons technology, while Tehran says it is for peaceful purposes.

The effort appears to have the critical backing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. But even the endorsement from Iran's most powerful figure is not enough to silence criticism of the fast-paced developments during the past days.

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, who heads the foreign policy and national security committee in parliament, was quoted by Iranian media as saying that the call showed Iran's "might." But the hard-line rajanews.com news website said there was no justification for Rouhani to talk to the "Great Satan," its term for the United States, and that the conversation was "a strange and useless step."

Rouhani has followed a policy of moderation and easing tensions with the outside world, a marked distance from the bombastic style of his predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Rouhani says Iran is ready to provide assurances that Iran's nuclear program won't be weaponized by offering greater transparency and cooperation. He has demanded lifting of sanctions in return.

Also Saturday, the CNN website, blocked since unrest broke out in 2009 over Ahmadinejad's disputed election, was accessible Saturday in what could be a sign of gradual easing of Internet restrictions and outreach to the US. In the past, blocked websites have become available temporarily before being place again behind official firewalls.

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A protester, left, approaches President Hassan Rouhani's car leaving Mehrabad airport after his arri …

Iran's stock exchange reacted positively to news of the phone call, with the index improving by 687 points, to 46,400 on Saturday. The rial, Iran's national currency, strengthened against the U.S. dollar as the news broke. The dollar was trading at 29,500 rials in foreign currency shops, compared to 30,200 rials on Thursday.

"Historic contact on the flight back home" was the front-page headline in the moderate Etemad daily Saturday. Arman, another newspaper, wrote: "The world was caught by surprise."

Upon returning home, Rouhani told reporters that the U.S. gave him a 2,700 year-old artifact, interpreted as a new token of friendship between the United States and Iran. The artifact had been in New York since 2003, when an art dealer smuggled it into the U.S. from Iran.

Mina Yazdi, a Tehran resident, said she was "very happy" to hear about Rouhani's phone conservation with Obama, which was organized after Rouhani's staff reached out to the White House with the proposal. The two leaders were both at the U.N. on Tuesday following speeches to the General Assembly, but did not meet.

"I hope that, after these talks, the economic problems of Iranians are eased," Yazdi said.

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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani reviews the honor guard upon arrival from the U.S. at Mehrabad airp …

Iran's president finds a very mixed reaction to his historic phone call with Barack Obama.
'Dialogue with Satan'

Syria's Assad vows to comply with UN resolution

Speaking to Italy's RAI News 24 TV, President Bashar Assad said his government approved of the U.N. Security Council plan to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons program, and also agreed to join the international convention that outlaws such arms.

"Of course we have to comply. This is our history to comply with every treaty we sign," he said in a video of the interview posted on the Syrian presidency's official Facebook page. "According to every chapter in the agreement, we don't have any reservation."

The U.N. resolution, which passed unanimously Friday, aims to strip the Assad regime of its estimated 1,000-ton chemical arsenal by mid-2014. It also calls for consequences if Syria fails to comply, though the council would have to pass another resolution to impose any penalties.

For the first time, the Security Council also endorsed a roadmap for a political transition in Syria adopted by key nations in June 2012, and it called for an international peace conference to be convened "as soon as possible" to implement it.

In the interview, Assad brushed aside a question about whether he would personally attend talks in Geneva, saying the framework of the negotiations is still unclear. He said he is willing to hold a dialogue with the political opposition to try to resolve the crisis, but not with armed groups trying to overthrow his government.

"Regarding the militants," he said, wagging his finger as he spoke, "if they give in their arms, we'll be ready to discuss with them anything like with any other citizen."

"We cannot discuss with al-Qaida offshoots and organizations that are affiliated with al-Qaida," he added. "We cannot negotiate with the people who ask for foreign intervention and military intervention in Syria."

He also welcomed the recent thaw in relations between the U.S. and Iran, a close ally of Syria that has provided it with weapons and cash to help Assad weather the war.

"If the Americans are, let's say, honest about this rapprochement, I think the results will be positive regarding the different issues, not just the Syrian crisis," he said.

The agreement to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons was prompted by the deadly poison gas attack Aug. 21 near Damascus. The U.S. blamed the Assad regime and threatened to launch punitive missile strikes, while the Syrian government accused the rebels of being behind the attack.

Inside Syria on Sunday, more than 40 rebel brigades around Damascus announced that they were banding together to form a new group called the Jaish al-Islam under the leadership of the head of one of the most powerful factions, Liwa al-Islam.

Charles Lister, an analyst with IHS Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre in Britain, said the move represents an effort by Syria's strongest Islamist rebel brigades to consolidate on a regional and possible national basis.

The Damascus factions already cooperate on the ground, and it is unclear what practical effect their consolidation will have in the fight against Assad, Lister said.

But the unification effort, coupled with the decision last by Liwa al-Islam and nearly a dozen other rebel organizations to break with the main opposition group in exile, is another blow to the Western-backed political opposition.

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Associated Press writer Yasmine Saker contributed to this report.

Assad has 'no reservation' about U.N. vote

Syria's president vows to abide by a resolution stripping the country of its chemical weapons stockpile.
What's his role?

Publicado el 04/09/2013