US President Barack Obama will drop his insistence that the threat of a military strike be included in a UN resolution on Syria, news reports said Friday, dpa reported.
Senior administration officials quoted by the New York Times said the US would seek other tangible consequences if Syria didn't live up to its commitments on its chemical weapons arsenal.
White House officials said Obama dropped its insistence because Obama was certain that Russia would use its veto power in the UN Security Council to block a resolution that authorized a military strike against Syria.
But they said Obama reserved the right to order a punitive military strike on his own without United Nations backing. He also continues to work to for authorization from Congress for the use of force.