Kerry warns strikes still on table US will not tolerate Syrian 'avoidance' RAW VIDEO: France, Britain and US call for a swift UN resolution committing Syria to remove its chemical weapons. PT0M49S http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/action/externalEmbeddedPlayer?id=d-2tvki 620 349 September 17, 2013 Syrian Crisis: Full coverage After reaching a dramatic deal with Russia on eliminating Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles, US Secretary of State John Kerry is trying to shore up support from Washington's traditional allies, turning to Paris and French President Francois Hollande after a trip to Israel. Mr Kerry may also meet ministers from Turkey and Saudi Arabia, both backers of the rebels seeking to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. French President Francois Hollande welcomes British Foreign Secretary William Hague, left, and US Secretary of State John Kerry at the Elysee Palace. The Paris discussions come as the United Nations prepared to release an inspection team's report on a chemical weapons attack that the US says killed more than 1400 people. Speaking after a meeting on Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr Kerry said force remained an option if Dr Assad failed to comply with the Russian-backed plan. "The threat of force is real," Mr Kerry said. We cannot have hollow words in the conduct of foreign affairs. Dr Assad has denied responsibility for the August 21 gas attack on the outskirts of Damascus. The UN team is not allowed under its mandate to assign responsibility for the attack. "If in fact this deal goes through, the biggest winner is common sense, because the Obama administration had no good option for dealing with chemical weapons," said Aaron David Miller, a vice-president at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars in Washington. Syrian rebel leaders said they would not interfere with inspections, even as they criticised the US-Russian deal. But in Ghouta, where the attack took place, doctors and volunteers are still distributing information and equipment on how to cope with a new chemical assault to the district's 18 hospitals. There was also criticism of the diplomatic deal from the US Congress. Without a UN Security Council resolution authorising force unless the Syrian regime complies, "this framework agreement is meaningless," Republican senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham said in a joint statement. Assad will use the months and months afforded him to delay and deceive the world. Both senators have been long-term advocates of military intervention on the rebel side in Syria's civil war. Senator McCain said on NBC's Meet the Press that the agreement was a "loser" for the US. "It gave Russia a position in the Middle East which they haven't had since 1970," he said. We are now depending on the goodwill of the Russian people if Bashar Assad violates this agreement ... that is a very, very big gamble. Mr Kerry said that thorough inspections and verification of disarmament moves were feasible because the Syrian regime controlled all the chemical weapons sites. Mr Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet this month the UN's Syria envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, to set a date for a peace conference in Geneva. While Dr Assad has agreed to take part, the Syrian opposition has insisted he step down as a condition for negotiations. Bloomberg, agencies