AD urges Malta to support Russia’s proposal for Syria weapon handover

Alternattiva Demokratika urged the Maltese government to support a Russian proposal calling on Syria to hand over its chemical weapons for destruction.

"The Maltese government should support the Russian proposal that Syria hand over its chemical weapons to international control, on condition that such measure is implemented immediately and is not utilised by the Bashar Assad regime as an excuse to delay things," AD chairperson Arnold Cassola said.

Hours after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday commented that a strike could be avoided if the Syrian leadership handed over its chemical weapons, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he had put a proposal to his visiting Syrian counterpart during talks in Moscow.

Rebels fighting Assad's forces on the ground, where hundreds are being killed by conventional bullets and explosives every week, dismissed any such weapons transfer as impossible to police and a decoy to frustrate U.S. plans to attack.

The U.S. State Department later said Kerry had called Lavrov to tell him that while his remarks had been rhetorical and the United States was not going to "play games," if there was a serious proposal, then Washington would take a look at it.