BEIJING, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council resolution on Syria on Saturday marks a crucial step by the international community to pursue a political and peaceful settlement of the Syrian crisis.
Under the deadlock-breaking resolution, Syria should abandon its chemical weapons stockpile and weapons experts would be given unfettered access to make sure it is dismantled by mid-2014, which largely denied Western powers execuses for military intervention.
By stating "the use of chemical weapons anywhere constitutes a threat to international peace and stability", the resolution places responsibilities on both the Syrian government and the rebel groups to ensure the weapons would not fall into the wrong hands.
The binding deal is the victory of diplomacy by, for starters, averting punitive U.S. military strike on the conflict-ravaged Syria, where more than 100,000 people have been killed in the two-and-a-half-year civil war, sparing Syrian civilians from greater turmoil and disaster.
What is more important, Western powers led by the United States backed down from their original demands and gave way to bigger UN role on Syria. The 15-member UN Security Council agreed that, even in the event of confirmed violation of the resolution by Syria, a second UN resolution is required to authorize any use of punitive measures like military action or sanctions.
Moreover, the breakthrough has built on the momentum of diplomacy over the Syria issue. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said after the vote that big powers hoped to hold the Geneva peace talks on Syria in mid-November, providing a platform for comprehensive and serious contacts between the government and the rebels.
For sure, the resolution is just the beginning toward a political settlement of the Syria issue and the road ahead is certain to be bumpy given the complexity of chemical weapons issue and the Syrian situation as well as the tangible divisions over the war.
Novertheless, it is a good start and diplomacy has become a overriding theme. Just as Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has put it, the resolution has pulled the Syria situation "back to the track of peace from the verge of war while presenting a new opportunity for seeking political settlement of the Syrian issue."
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