UNITED NATIONS — The five permanent members of the deeply divided U.N. Security Council reached agreement Thursday on a resolution to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons, a major step in taking the most controversial weapon off the battlefield of the world’s deadliest current conflict.
Senior U.S., Russian, British and French diplomats confirmed the agreement, which also includes China. Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said he would introduce the text to the Security Council’s 10 nonpermanent members Thursday night.
A vote on the resolution still depends on how the full council responds to the draft, and on how soon an international group that oversees the global treaty on chemical weapons can adopt a plan for securing and destroying Syria’s stockpile. Diplomats said the earliest the Security Council could vote would be late today.
On Twitter, Lyall Grant said the five veto-wielding members had agreed on a “binding and enforceable draft … resolution.” A senior U.S. State Department official said the Russians agreed to support “a strong binding and enforceable resolution.”