Assad: US must stop arming rebels for chem weapons plan to work

President Bashar al-Assad said Thursday Washington must stop arming rebels and stop threatening military force if it wanted a plan for Syria to hand over chemical weapons to work. "When we see that the United States truly desires stability in our region and stops threatening and seeking to invade, as well as stops arms supplies to terrorists then we can believe that we can follow through with the necessary processes," he told Russian television, adding that Washington should dispense with the "politics of threats." But he also signalled that he was willing to comply with international pressure. "Syria will be sending an appeal to the UN and the Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in a few days, which will have technical documents necessary to sign the agreement," he added in translated remarks.