Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
Syrian President Bashar al-AssadAFP photo

Syria will adhere to United Nations accords on its chemical weapons, President Bashar Al-Assad said on Sunday in an interview with an Italian television channel.

“We joined the international agreement against the acquisition and use of chemical weapons even before this resolution was passed,” Assad told the RaiNews24, according to remarks carried by Al Arabiya, when asked if his country would fulfill the UN resolution passed on Friday.

Assad told the channel that he was not coerced into agreeing, adding that it was his own wish.

“The central part of it is based on what we ourselves wanted. So it is not about a resolution, in reality it is our own intention,” he claimed.

The UN Security Council adopted Friday’s resolution that stresses the removal of Syria’s chemical weapons.

The resolution does not offer automatic disciplinary action against Assad’s government if it does not comply.

The agreement between U.S. and Russia stopped U.S. military strikes against Assad’s regime, which the White House blamed for chemical weapons attacks last month that killed hundreds in a Damascus suburb.

A team of UN inspectors have submitted a report which confirmed the use of sarin nerve agent in the attack outside the Syrian capital.

President Bashar Al-Assad’s Western opponents said the inspectors’ report left little doubt that his forces were to blame for the attack.

Syria’s government and its ally Russia said that opposition rebels were responsible for the attack.

Russia has also said the inspectors’ report did not provide irrefutable proof that Assad’s forces were responsible, and that Damascus had provided information it said showed rebels were behind the attack.