Syria chemical weapons inspections could begin Tuesday

THE HAGUE, Netherlands The global chemical weapons watchdog is calling for inspections of Syria's chemical arsenal to begin by Tuesday.

The draft decision of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons obtained by The Associated Press also authorizes the body to inspect "any other site identified by a State Party as having been involved in the Syrian chemical weapons program, unless deemed unwarranted by the Director-General."

That goes beyond usual practice as the organization only inspects sites that have been declared by member states.

The draft, being discussed by the organization's executive council Friday night, calls for the destruction of all Syria's chemical weapons and equipment to be completed by "the first half of 2014."

Meanwhile, in a near-parallel set of consultations to craft the international political mandate for the OPCW to carry out its work in Syria, the U.N. Security Council met Thursday evening for informal consultations to consider a breakthrough draft resolution to secure and eliminate Syria's chemical weapons.

CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk said the agreement -- crafted in large part at a Geneva meeting by Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov -- will have to be squared with the OPCW's technical plan, but it is almost certain to receive approval in a full Security Council meeting as early as Friday evening, as the OPCW's executive council meets in the Netherlands.

The agreement in the Security Council received key backing from Russia on Thursday after the U.S. agreed to remove a major stumbling block which had held up a deal. The U.S. had wanted to put teeth in the resolution; a clause threatening military force against Syria if it failed to abide by the terms. Russia refused to allow such a clause.

Play Video

Despite U.N. Syria resolution deal, threat of U.S. force won't be off table, Kerry says

Secretary of State Kerry sat down Thursday with CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley for an interview for "60 Minutes" and he explained the Obama administration's thinking.

"We have not taken the threat of it (military action) off the table, but it is not part of the actual resolution," said Kerry.

Asked by Pelley whether the threat of U.S. military force against President Bashar Assad's government was still credible, given the opposition voiced both from members of Congress and the American public, Kerry insisted that the circumstances had changed with the Syrian government's first acknowledgement that it even possesses chemical weapons, and with Damascus "signing up to agree to live by a certain standard" and destroy those weapons.

"If Syria doesn't live by that standard, I can assure you this President of the United States is not going to take off the table unilaterally any prerogative that a commander-in-chief has," insisted Kerry.