Damascus has admitted for the first time that it has chemical weapons, and has agreed to abide⁴ by a Russian plan to have the arsenal⁵（军械库） destroyed.

 

The US threatened strikes after a gas attack killed hundreds last month.

 

Mr Obama said the US military would respond if talks failed. Syria blames rebels for the attack near Damascus.

 

More than 100,000 people have died since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in 2011.

 

Russia announced the plan on Monday and Syria quickly responded, saying it "welcomed" the initiative.

 

Late on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Walid Muallem then made the fullest public admission of the regime's stockpile and a much clearer commitment to the Russian plan.

 

"We are ready to inform about the location of chemical weapons, halt the production of chemical weapons, and show these objects to representatives of Russia, other states and the United Nations," he said.

 

"Our adherence⁶ to the Russian initiative has a goal of halting the possession of all chemical weapons."

 

Until Tuesday morning, Mr Obama's government had been lobbying hard for support in Congress for military strikes.

 

But surveys of politicians had shown he was unlikely to win the planned vote.

 

In a televised speech from the White House, President Obama said the Russian plan and the regime's admission that it held chemical weapons were "encouraging signs".

 

"It's too early to tell whether [the Russian plan] will succeed, and any agreement must verify that the Assad regime keeps its commitments," he said.

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