Argentina, Brazil urge diplomatic solution to Syria crisis

Argentina and Brazil urged the international community to pursue a diplomatic solution to the Syrian crisis, while Haiti praised Russia's peaceful proposal to this end. In a joint statement after their meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman and Brazilian Foreign Minister Luiz Alberto Figueiredo called for a strictly peaceful, mediated solution to the Syrian civil war, which has driven hundreds of thousands from their homes into neighboring countries. They also stated they "condemned the use of chemical weapons by any party and under any circumstance," referring to the recent chemical attack on civilians outside Damascus, capital of Syria, Xinhua reported. Separately, Haiti praised the diplomatic strategy promoted by Russia and the United States over Syria. "Haiti celebrates the accord reached between the United States and Russia, which has prevented the use of force, giving priority to diplomatic means to find a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis," the Haitian Foreign Ministry said in a communiqué issued in the capital Port-au-Prince. Haiti also hailed the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for pledging to cooperate with the plan to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons cache. The US-Russia accord on Syria's chemical weapons was announced Sept. 14, following three days of talks in Geneva, Switzerland. In recent days, the US, Israel and France have adopted the rhetoric of war against Syria over allegations that the Syrian government was behind a recent chemical attack near Damascus. The call for military strike intensified after the militants operating inside Syria and the foreign-backed Syrian opposition claimed on August 21 that hundreds had been killed in a government chemical attack on militant strongholds in the Damascus suburbs of Ain Tarma, Zamalka and Jobar. The Syrian government has strongly denied the claim, accusing the militants of the attack.