Syrian FM welcomes Russia's chemical arms handover initiative

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's foreign minister on Monday said he welcomed Russia's proposal that Damascus hand over control of its chemical weapons arsenal to international supervision to avoid US military action. "I carefully listened to (Russian foreign minister) Sergei Lavrov's statement about it. In connection with this, I note that Syria welcomes the Russian initiative based on the Syrian leadership's concern about the lives of our nationals and the security of our country," Walid al-Muallem said in comments carried by Russian state news agency ITAR-Tass.