Syria can avoid air hits by surrendering nasty bombs: US

United States President Barack Obama said on Monday that a military strike against Syria, over its recent use of chemical weapons on rebels can be put on hold if the Bashr al-Assad regime agrees to turn over its chemical weapons to the international community.

Obama, in separate interviews to six news channels on the issue, also conceded he was not confident of getting votes from Congress on the strike, but said he would take a final decision after talking to American people directly on Tuesday night.

"Absolutely, if, in fact, that happened," the president told the ABC News when asked if the military strike would be put on pause if Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, yields control of his chemical weapons to international authority.

It is a measure how badly all sides want a face-saving way out of the international Syrian crisis that an off-hand proposal by US secretary of state John Kerry, that air strikes could be prevented if the Assad regime hands over its chemical weapons. has now snowballed into a serious diplomatic initiative.

Kerry made his peace-for-weapons proposal clearly implying that it was far-fetched, but within hours Moscow and Damascus – and late last night, Barack Obama in Washington – seized on the idea as a plausible proposal that could yet unpick the diplomatic deadlock.

Obama's decision to play along with the Russian plan reflects the fundamental weakness of his own position at home - with both the US Congress and public refusing to back Obama in his calls for punitive action against the Assad regime, the threats of military strikes have rung more hollow by the day.

With the vote fast-approaching in the Senate, Obama took the Russian line.

"That's in our national security interest. If we can do that (obtaining the chemical weapons) without a military strike, that is overwhelmingly my preference. And now the key is, can we see a sense of urgency?" Obama said.

"I don't think that we would have gotten to this point unless we had maintained a credible possibility of a military strike, and I don't think now is the time for us to let up on that," Obama, said asserting that he wants to make sure that the norm against use of chemical weapons is maintained.

The US President also said he was not fully confident of getting congressional support on the issue.

"I wouldn't say I'm confident. I'm confident that the members of Congress are taking this issue very seriously and they're doing their homework. And I appreciate that," Obama told the NBC news in another interview.

Asserting that he always preferred a diplomatic resolution to the Syrian crisis, Obama noted that the latest statements by Russia and the Syrian government represent a potentially positive development.