Americans: Putin most effective leader on Syria, Obama least

Americans think Russian President Vladimir Putin was far and away the most effective world leader in dealing with the Syrian chemical weapons crisis, with US President Barack Obama trailing him in a distant second place, results of a new poll showed. According to the poll, nearly half of 1,000 American adults polled – 49 percent – said Putin was the most effective at dealing with the still ongoing crisis in Syria, with 25 percent saying Obama was the most effective, Al-Alam reported. Nine percent chose Syrian leader Bashar Assad, ranking him third, ahead of United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande, all of whom polled in the single digits. Obama did beat Putin by a huge margin on another question in the poll – which leader was the least effective on Syria. Forty-four percent said Obama was the least effective and just 10 percent said the same of Putin, the survey showed. The poll was conducted online from Sept. 21-23 among respondents who signed up to be on YouGov’s Internet panel. Media reports on Friday said that, the UN Security Council (UNSC) has discussed a draft resolution on Syria chemical weapons after the US and Russia agreed the text, media reports said. A vote in the 15-member UNSC could now take place later on Friday, diplomats at the UN in New York said. On Wednesday, during a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov agreed to continue pushing towards destruction of "all" chemical weapons in Syria under international supervision. Washington had threatened to take military action against Syria over the unsubstantiated claim that the Syrian government carried out a deadly chemical attack near Damascus on August 21. Damascus has repeatedly rejected the accusation. Syria has been gripped by deadly unrest since March 2011. A very large number of the militants operating inside Syria are reportedly foreign nationals. According to reports, the western powers and their regional allies, specially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, are supporting the militants operating inside Syria.