Headline Of The Day

CBS News reports:

Syria on Monday quickly welcomed a call from Russia, its close ally, to place Syrian chemical arsenals under international control, then destroy them to avert a U.S. strike, but did not offer a time frame or any other specifics. The statement by Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem appeared to mark the first official acknowledgement by Damascus that it possesses chemical weapons and reflected what appeared to be an attempt by Syrian President Bashar Assad to avoid the U.S. military attack. But it remained to be seen whether the statement represented a genuine goodwill gesture by Syria or simply an attempt to buy time. Moallem’s statement came a few hours after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Assad could resolve the crisis surrounding the alleged use of chemical weapons by his forces by surrendering control of “every single bit” of his arsenal to the international community by the end of the week.

RELATED: Today the White House announced that 14 more nations have joined in the call for an “strong international response to Syria.”

Among the new nations announcing support are Germany, Denmark, Morocco, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Estonia, Croatia, Hungary, Kosovo, Honduras, Romania, Latvia, Albania and Lithuania. The countries that initially backed the statement were Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom.