UNSC close to vote draft resolution on Syria

The UN Security Council could vote as early as Friday on a draft resolution regarding Syria\'s chemical weapons program. \"The resolution would impose \"legally binding obligations\" on the government to eliminate its program,\" said US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power to media outlets after a consultation meeting of the UN Security Council late Thursday. \"This resolution will require the destruction of a category of weapons that the Syrian government has used ruthlessly and repeatedly against its own people. And this resolution will make clear that there are going to be consequences for noncompliance,\" she noted. Power described the move as significant, as it represents the first time since the start of the conflict that the Security Council has imposed binding obligations on Syria. The United States and other Western nations blame the Syrian government for an August 21 chemical weapons attack outside Damascus that US officials estimate killed 1,400 people. A Western diplomat told CNN that the draft resolution imposes a set of binding legal obligations on Syria that includes, in the event of noncompliance, Security Council ability to seek sanctions under a separate Security Council resolution. \"The language in the draft text authorizes the director general of the OPCW and the UN Secretary General to report noncompliance to the Security Council as it happens, after which the Security Council can decide to impose measures, \" CNN quoted the Western diplomat as saying. However, the resolution would not authorize automatic use of force if Syria is said to be in violation, as was previously sought by the United States, said the source.