Obama: Most of G20 agrees Assad used chemical arms, but split over military action

US President Barack Obama is set to address the US public regarding the ongoing Syria crisis and potential military strike on Tuesday.

By REUTERS
US President Barack Obama 370 (photo credit: Reuters)
US President Barack Obama 370
(photo credit: Reuters)
President Barack Obama said on Friday that most leaders of the G20 countries agree that Syrian President Bashar Assad is responsible for using poison gas against civilians as the US leader tried to rally support at home and abroad for a military strike.
Obama said he planned to speak to the American public about Syria on Tuesday as Congress considers his request for limited military action in Syria.
Speaking to reporters at an international diplomatic summit, Obama said the leaders of the world's largest economies agreed that chemical weapons were used in Syria and that the international ban chemical weapons needs to be maintained.
However, he said there was disagreement about whether force could be used in Syria without going through the United Nations. The United States has been unable to win UN Security Council approval for military action against Syria because of the opposition of veto-wielding Russia.
"The majority of the room is comfortable with our conclusion that Assad, the Assad government, was responsible for their use," he said at a news conference, adding that this is disputed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A number of countries believed that any military force needed to be decided at U.N. Security Council, a view he said he does not share.
"Given Security Council paralysis on this issue, if we are serious about upholding a ban on chemical weapons use then an international response is required, and that will not come through Security Council action," he said.
Obama has been trying to rally support internationally and domestically for a limited military response to the chemical weapons attack on Syrian civilians Aug. 21.
Obama defied pressure to abandon plans for air strikes against Syria at the summit on Friday which left world leaders divided on the conflict but united behind a call to spur economic growth.
Leaders of the G20, who account for 90 percent of the world economy and two thirds of its population, agreed that the economy was not out of crisis yet but was on the mend.
But Obama and Putin remained far apart on Syria after a 20-minute one-on-one talk on the sidelines of the summit on Friday, following a tense group discussion on the civil war over dinner late on Thursday.
"There has been a long discussion with a clear split in the group," a G20 source said after the dinner in a Tsarist-era palace in Russia's former imperial capital, St. Petersburg.
Putin said he and Obama stood their ground and neither blinked but at least there was dialogue.
"We hear one another, and understand the arguments but we don't agree. I don't agree with his arguments, he doesn't agree with mine. But we hear them, try to analyze them," he said.
China's Xi Jinping also tried, unsuccessfully, to dissuade Obama from military action.
"A political solution is the only right way out for the Syrian crisis, and a military strike cannot solve the problem from the root," Xinhua news agency quoted Xi as saying. "We expect certain countries to have a second thought before action."
Washington says troops loyal to Assad carried out a poison gas attack which killed over 1,400 people in rebel-held suburbs of Damascus on Aug. 21. Putin said the attack was carried out by the rebels in order to provoke outside military intervention against Assad.
Unable to win United Nations Security Council backing for military action because of the opposition by veto-wielding Russia, Obama is seeking the backing of the US Congress.
He stuck to that position in St. Petersburg, despite a warning by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon about the need to find a political settlement to end the war.
"Every day that we lose is a day when scores of innocent civilians die," Ban said.
Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser, told reporters the president had "once again underscored the very high confidence that we have" of Assad's role in the attack.
Obama also told the G20 leaders that it was important to uphold international norms against chemical weapons and depicted the Security Council as paralyzed.
Participants at the dinner said the tension between Putin and Obama was palpable but that they seemed at pains to avoid an escalation. Obama said credit was due to Putin for facilitating the long discussion of the Syrian crisis on Thursday night. Obama defended his position at the talks with Xi, whose country has veto powers on the Security Council.
Without referring to Syria, Obama said before meeting Xi: "Although there will continue to be some significant disagreements and sources of tension, I am confident that they can be managed."
He appeared isolated in St. Petersburg, despite France's support for military action, and the presence of allies such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia. But his actions suggested that winning the approval of Congress is his most important short-term goal.
Obama said most G20 leaders agreed that Assad launched the August 21 chemical weapons attack, but were divided over whether to use force in Syria without UN Security Council support.
Washington's ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, made clear on Thursday that the United States had given up trying to work with the Council on the issue, and accused Russia of holding it hostage.
The dispute over Syria has deepened strains in US-Russian ties, already difficult because of differences over human rights and Moscow's hosting of Edward Snowden, a spy agency contractor who revealed details of US surveillance programs. Putin said Obama had not requested Snowden's extradition on Friday, adding that it would be impossible anyway.
Obama planned to meet rights activists, including gay rights campaigners, to show support for civil society in Russia, where critics say Putin has clamped down on dissent in his third term.
But some invitees have declined to attend, citing what they said were repeated changes in the timing of the meeting. One added her voice to warnings against a military strike on Syria.
Crisis in Syria - full JPost.com coverage