U.S. President Barack Obama said Tuesday it is too early to judge the diplomatic effort to force the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to hand over control of the chemical weapons to the United Nations.

U.S. President Barack Obama said Tuesday it is too early to judge the diplomatic effort to force the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to hand over control of the chemical weapons to the United Nations, urging the Americans to support possible military action against Syria.

In an address to the American people from the White House, Obama hinted at the Russian initiative proposed by President Vladimir Putin, signaling that any agreement must ensure verification of the 'Assad regime's compliance' with its obligations, indicating that the initiative could remove the threat of chemical weapons without the use of force.

Obama argued that a military response is in the national interest, although he conceded that Syria poses no direct threat to the United States. Obama said that not responding to Assad’s alleged use of chemical weapons in an Aug. 21 attack that killed more than 1000 outside Damascus would allow him to use them again and would embolden other regimes hostile to the United States, including Iran.

Approved by the Syrian Arab Republic, Putin's initiative has been proposed to help his American counterpart to avoid erupting a war which will only result in worse regional and international crisis, western analysts believed.

Moreover, members of the U.S. Senate said earlier that Obama asked Congress to delay the vote on authorizing military strikes against Syria to give Russia time to convince Syria to hand over any chemical weapons it possesses.

Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, told reporters that what Obama wants is "to make sure of the seriousness of the Syrians as well the Russian desire to get rid of those chemical weapons in Syria."

"He wanted time to make sure of that," Sen. Levin added.

It is noteworthy that the U.S. Senate started on Monday discussing the draft resolution supporting U.S. military strikes against Syria at the request of Obama submitted on August 31.

The US President however expressed beliefs that unless the United States and the international community address the Syrian regime use of these weapons, there is the possibility that chemical weapons threatening America's allies such as Turkey, Jordan and Israel will rise in case the fighting spreads from Syria to neighboring countries.