Middle East Watches And Waits on Syria

06:39

September 13, 2013

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, U.N. Special Representative Lakhdar Brahimi, center, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov deliver a statement to the media after a meeting discussing Syria at the United Nations offices in Geneva, Switzerland, Friday, Sept. 13, 2013. (Larry Downing/AP)

Russian and American diplomats are in their second day of talks on how and when to get Syria to turn over its chemical weapons, which the U.S. claims were used against Syrian civilians last month.

Iran's president today said he backed a Russian plan that Syria avoid a U.S. military strike by surrendering its weapons to international monitors, though it's not clear how soon that would occur.

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Jerusalem this weekend to discuss Syria and prospects for Middle East peace with Israeli leaders.

Guest

Rami Khouri, editor-at-large for The Daily Star of Lebanon and director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut. He tweets @ramikhouri.

This segment aired on September 13, 2013.