Syria said it welcomed a Russian proposal that it hand over chemical weapons to be destroyed, without saying whether it would comply, as opponents of a military strike against Syria leapt at the chance for another delay to possible U.S. attack.

The White House said it would take a "hard look" at the proposal from the Russian government to get Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to turn over his chemical-weapons stockpiles but said it didn't have confidence that Mr. Assad would do so.

...