After nearly three days of negotiations and compromises, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announce a joint framework for removing Syria's chemical weapons.

Kerry said if President Bashar al-Assad upheld his end of the deal- which includes full and immediate access to the chemical weapon sites- then the plan could work.

But Kerry stopped short of saying the threat of military action had been completely eliminated.

SOUNDBITE (English) U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY SAYING:

"Now the potential for the threat of force, is clearly one of those options, that may or may not be available to the security council and is subject to debate. Everyone knows the differences of opinions about it. But depending on what Assad does, that possibility exists either within the process of the United Nations or as it did here, with a decision by the president of the United States and like minded allies if they thought that was what it cam