US Secretary of State John Kerry has warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad he could face consequences for failing to live up to international agreements on removing his chemical weapons stockpile.
Kerry told reporters ahead of talks in Berlin with Chancellor Angela Merkel that Damascus was not complying with a US-Russian agreed timetable for shipping out the arsenal.
"We now know that the Assad regime is not moving as rapidly as it promised to move the chemical weapons out of Syria," he said on Friday.
"I would remind Bashar al-Assad that the agreement that we reached in New York with the (UN) Security Council makes it clear that if there are issues of non-compliance, they will be referred to the Security Council for Chapter 7 compliance purposes."
The United States and Russia agreed on a deal last September to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons.
The accord included a commitment to imposing measures under Chapter 7 within the UN Security Council, which sets out possible sanctions including the threat of military force.
The agreement was brokered as a way to avert US missile strikes that Washington threatened after a chemical attack near Damascus that the US and other Western governments blamed on the regime.
Kerry said Syria must respect "a global, legal, international obligation" it made.
"Our hope is that Syria will move rapidly to live up to its obligations," Kerry said.
The world's chemical watchdog said on Wednesday that Damascus had handed over less than five per cent of the most dangerous chemicals in its armoury.
Just two small shipments of chemicals have so far left the Syrian port of Latakia, the US government said this week.
Around 700 tonnes of chemicals were supposed to have left Syria by December 31, which means the ambitious disarmament project is weeks behind schedule.
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