Obama: I’ll ‘Absolutely’ Call Off Strikes If Assad Hands Over Weapons

President Obama said he would call off any proposed military action in Syria if President Bashar Assad yields control of his chemical weapons. “Absolutely, if that in fact that happens,” he responded to the hypothetical scenario.

The president also indicated that he would prefer to refrain from a military strike against the Syrian strongman. “If we can do that without a military strike, that is overwhelmingly my preference,” he told ABC’s Diane Sawyer.

President Obama sat down with five network-news anchors on Monday to argue his case for intevention in Syria ahead of a scheduled primetime address to the American people on Tuesday evening.