Assad: US Should Stop Funding Militants If It Wanted Syria Plan to Work

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Thursday that Damascus agreed to hand over control of chemical weapons to the international supervision at the request of Russia, and not because of the U.S. threats.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Thursday that Damascus agreed to hand over control of chemical weapons to the international supervision at the request of Russia, and not because of the U.S. threats.

During an interview with the channel "Russia 24", the Syrian President made it clear that Damascus will send to the United Nations documents in order to prepare a convention on the matter.

The Syrian President set a new equation urging Washington to stop arming militant groups 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 the Russian television, adding that Washington should dispense with the "politics of threats."

But he also signaled that he was willing to comply with international pressure. "Syria will be sending an appeal to the UN and the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in a few days, which will have technical documents necessary to sign the agreement," he added in the translated remarks.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, has said in an article published by the New York Times daily that forces of the Syrian opposition - and not the Syrian army - had used chemical weapons to incite the U.S. intervention.

"No one doubts that poison gas was used, but there are all reasons to believe that poison gas was not used by the national military, but by the opposition forces in order to incite the intervention of foreign powers that support them," Putin said.