Kerry Meets Netanyahu, Says Threat of Force against Syria 'Remains Real'

The threat of U.S. military action against Syria remains "real", Washington's top diplomat said on Sunday a day after striking a deal with Russia to destroy Damascus' chemical weapons stockpile.

"The threat of force remains, the threat is real," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said at a news conference in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"We cannot have hollow words in the conduct of international affairs."

Kerry's remarks were made following a four-hour meeting with Netanyahu at which the two men discussed the U.S.-Russian agreement on eradicating Syria's stockpile of chemical weapons, and also talked about the ongoing Middle East peace talks.

"Make no mistake, we have taken no options off the table," Kerry warned after news of the deal appeared to stave off the threat of a U.S.-led military strike on the Syrian regime after a chemical attack last month on a Damascus suburb.

"The fact of weapons of mass destruction having being used against the people of their own state -- these are crimes against humanity and they cannot be tolerated," he said.

Standing next to him, Netanyahu said stripping Syria of its chemical stockpile would make the entire region "a lot safer."

"The world needs to ensure that radical regimes don't have weapons of mass destruction because, as we've learned once again in Syria, if rogue regimes have weapons of mass destruction they will use them," he said.

"If diplomacy has any chance to work it must be coupled with a credible military threat," Netanyahu said.