Wary of U.S. attack, Syria accepts Russian plan

1/21

A wounded Syrian woman walks with her children after airstrikes on a rebel area of the war-torn northern city of Aleppo. (Mohammed al-Khatieb / AFP/ Getty Images)

2/21

Mourners attend a funeral for men killed during battles with members of the Al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. (Mahmud Al-Halabi / AFP/ Getty Images)

3/21

Rebel fighters carry a man’s body at the Aleppo headquarters of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria after he was allegedly killed by the AlQaeda-linked group in January. (Medo Halab / AFP/ Getty Images)

4/21

A Syrian man helps an injured resident following an airstrike in Aleppo’s Maadi neighborhood. (Mohammed al-Khatieb / AFP/ Getty Images)

5/21

A Syrian man reacts after an airstrike by government forces on the city of Aleppo. (Mohammed al-Khatieb / AFP/ Getty Images)

6/21

Rebel fighters inside a building during clashes with pro-government forces in the Sheikh al-Said neighborhood of Syria’s northern city of Aleppo. (Medo Halab / AFP/ Getty Images)

7/21

An opposition fighter runs through a hole in a wall to avoid sniper fire by regime forces during clashes in Syria’s northern city of Aleppo. (KARAM AL-MASRI / AFP/Getty Images)

8/21

Opposition fighters open fire from behind a car during fighting in the Salaheddin district of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported fierce fighting in Damascus province between rebels and troops backed by pro-regime militias and fighters from Lebanon’s Shiite Muslim movement Hezbollah. (KARAM AL-MASRI / AFP/Getty Images)

9/21

A Syrian rebel aims his weapon during clashes with government forces in the streets near Aleppo international airport in northern Syria. (Stephen J. Boitano / AFP/ Getty Images)

10/21

Rebel fighters duck as they run behind a barricade to avoid being fired at by Syrian government forces in the Old City of Aleppo. (JM Lopez / AFP/ Getty Images)

11/21

A fighter allied with Syrian President Bashar Assad runs across the street after fighting with rebels in the Yarmouk refugee camp in the capital, Damascus. (Anwar Amro / AFP/ Getty Images)

12/21

A fighter of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command, allied with Syrian President Bashar Assad, jumps through the window of a destroyed building in the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus. (Anwar Amro / AFP/ Getty Images)

13/21

An opposition fighter runs in front of a sniper curtain in the industrial area of Syria’s eastern town of Deir Ezzor during clashes with government forces. (Abo Shuja / AFP/ Getty Images)

14/21

Free Syrian Army fighters clean their weapons and check ammunition at their base on the outskirts of Aleppo, Syria. (Khalil Hamra / Associated Press)

15/21

Syrian government forces patrol the Khaldiyeh district of Syria’s central city of Homs. The Syrian government announced on July 29 the capture of Khaldiyeh, a key rebel district in Homs. (Joseph Eid / AFP/Getty Images)

16/21

A Syrian national flag is waved in Damascus to show support for President Bashar Assad. (Louai Beshara / AFP/Getty Images)

17/21

A rebel fighter takes aim at regime forces in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. (Louai Abo Al-Jod / AFP/Getty Images)

18/21

A man stands near destroyed buildings after reported airstrikes by Syrian government forces in the rebel-held northwestern Syrian province of Idlib. (Abu Amar Al-Taftanaz / AFP/Getty Images)

19/21

Mustafa Abu Bekir, 23, second from left, meets relatives after crossing the Turkish Cilvegozu gate border. Abu Bekir said he was severely wounded by a bomb dropped from a Syrian army warplane while fighting with the Free Syrian Army in Idlib. (Gregorio Borgia / Associated Press)

20/21

A man carries a boy who was severely wounded during heavy fighting between Syrian rebels and troops last year in Idlib. (Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press)

21/21

Syrian President Bashar Assad arrives at a dinner event in Damascus on the last week of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. (Virginie Nguyen Hoang / AFP/Getty Images)

By Sergei L. Loiko

Sept. 10, 2013 10:11 AM PT

<i>This post has been updated. See the note below for details.</i>

MOSCOW -- Syria confirmed Tuesday that it has accepted a Russian plan to allow its chemical weapons to be placed under international control and eventually dismantled.

The Syrian agreement is based on the understanding that the plan could prevent a U.S. military strike, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said.

“We agreed with the Russian initiative, proceeding from the understanding that it must cut the ground from under the feet of the U.S. aggression against our country,” Moallem said during a meeting with the speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament, Sergei Naryshkin.

Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov said the two sides were working on details of the plan.

“The Russian side is now doing exactly that: preparing a clear-cut plan and conducting at this very moment consultations with the Syrian side,” Lavrov told reporters. He said Russia intends to deliver a proposal soon to U.N. Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon.

[Updated 11:44 a.m. Sept. 10: Lavrov also said Tuesday that Russia could not support a resolution that France was preparing to submit to the U.N. Security Council providing a framework for carrying out the Russian plan. According to a statement posted on the Russian Foreign Ministry website, Lavrov said the proposed resolution was “unacceptable” because it held Syria responsible for the use of chemical weapons. Both Syria and Russia have maintained that an alleged poison gas attack in a Damascus suburb recently was the fault of anti-government rebels, not the Syrian government.]

The initiative has advantages for most -- but not all -- of the major players in the crisis, political expert Fyodor Lukyanov said.

“The initiative certainly provides ample opportunities for the United States, Russia and Syria to achieve an acceptable compromise without any of the three sides’ loss of face,” said Lukyanov, editor-in-chief of the journal Russia in Global Affairs. “Syrian rebels, however, appear to be the only losing side from a solution that would prevent a U.S. military strike against Assad, which the rebels are so looking forward to.”

ALSO:

Four face death penalty after conviction in Indian gang rape

Kenya deputy president denies guilt before international court

‘Significant new evidence’ cited in 1961 death of U.N.’s Hammarskjold

sergei.loiko@latimes.com