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

The United Nations team that traveled to Syria to investigate accusations of use of chemical weapons will release its highly anticipated report today, potentially removing one of the biggest challenges to ongoing negotiations: the lack of evidence from a source that has not chosen a side in Syria's war.

The US and Russia 鈥� the de facto representatives of the international community's opposing positions 鈥� agree that a large-scale chemical weapons attack occurred in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta on Aug. 21. But the US firmly believes that the Syrian regime was behind the attack, while Russia has accused the rebels of carrying it out in order to raise support for foreign intervention. President Bashar al-Assad has repeatedly denied any use of chemical weapons.

But ABC News reports that the UN report will likely not point fingers at either side, leaving an essential question unanswered.

Foreign Policy reported on Sept. 13 that, according to an unnamed Western official, the UN team has a "wealth" of evidence that Mr. Assad used chemical weapons.聽

However, Western diplomats told Foreign Policy that while the report would "strengthen the case" against the regime, it would "not fundamentally alter the course of diplomatic efforts to contain chemical weapons in Syria."

Such diplomatic efforts accomplished a substantial achievement yesterday, with US and Russian officials reaching an agreement on Syria's chemical weapons program, calling for an inventory of the country's stockpile within a week and a complete elimination of the program by mid-2014. A follow-up UN resolution will lay out a framework for how Syria can first secure, then destroy its chemical weapons.

The Associated Press reports that the onus to keep the deal viable is on Assad. The US and France have both been emphatic that a military strike against Syria remains on the table if he drags his feet. 鈥淚f diplomacy fails, the United States remains prepared to act,鈥� said US President Obama yesterday, and French President Fran莽ois Hollande said, 鈥淭he military option must remain; otherwise there will be no pressure."

While the agreement was hailed as an achievement, the reception was muted. An unpopular, seemingly imminent military strike on Syria has been averted, but the deal offered a "lifeline" to Assad, Reuters reports. And although the agreement will strip the regime of its chemical weapons arsenal, which it has relied on in order to deter attacks by domestic and regional enemies, it implicitly designates him as the primary negotiator for Syria still, despite losing control of much of the country and waging a war that has killed more than 100,000 people.

The Washington Post reports that while international attention was focused on negotiations, the intensity of the fighting shot up. The weekly death toll, which had plummeted "into the low dozens" in the days after Obama's statement that he was prepared to strike, jumped back up into the hundreds.

The possibility of a US strike "may have held in check some of the more violent impulses of a well-armed government," The Washington Post reports. With that off the table 鈥� for now 鈥� the regime is newly emboldened.

The fierce debate over chemical weapons has also eclipsed the brutality of the regime's initial response to an unarmed uprising, as well as the deep internal divisions and complex alliances that have made this such a bloody war, The Washington Post notes. It also fails to address any endgame questions: whether Assad should remain in power and how to end conventional fighting.聽