海角大神

鈥� A daily summary of global reports on security issues.

As Congress mulls authorizing military action against Syria, Russian President Vladimir Putin held firm in his skepticism over the possibility that Syrian government forces used chemical weapons last month. But he also offered a hint that he could be persuaded to back intervention into the Syrian conflict 鈥� if the United Nations Security Council authorized it.

In a televised interview recorded Tuesday with the Associated Press and Russian television network First Channel, Mr. Putin said that he found footage of the alleged chemical attacks "horrible." But he added that he was not convinced by the evidence presented by the US and its allies that Bashar al-Assad and his forces were to blame, reports The Los Angeles Times.

Putin did offer a hint that he could be persuaded to back military intervention against the Syrian government: 鈥淚 do not exclude it," he said, when asked about the possibility. But The New York Times adds that he followed that by underscoring the need for the UN Security Council to authorize such force聽鈥� a body that has refused to act so far, due to both Russia's and China's vetoes.

鈥淚 want to draw your attention to one absolutely fundamental fact,鈥� he said. 鈥淚n accordance with applicable international law, the authorization of the use of force against a sovereign state can only be given by the Security Council of the United Nations. Any other reasons, or methods, to justify the use of force against an independent and sovereign state are unacceptable and cannot be qualified as anything other than aggression.鈥�

The BBC's Daniel Sanford notes that Putin's acknowledgement that he might back intervention is "something he has not done before" and gives him "a little wriggle room," though Mr. Sanford also says that Putin has set "a high bar" for such.

But while Putin remains unconvinced that Syria deployed chemical weapons, the debate in Washington reached another stage in Congressional hearings yesterday. 海角大神 reports that as Secretary of State John Kerry appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the main concern was the wisdom of intervention:

Pushed by Sen. Bob Corker (R) of Tennessee, Kerry later stated flatly that 鈥淭here will not be American boots on the ground with respect to the Syrian civil war.鈥� But the threat of becoming bogged down in another Middle Eastern war still worried many senators.