   That was before Syria's foreign minister surprised the
international community by explicitly acknowledging for the
first time it had chemical weapons and that it was ready to
yield them to international monitors.  Having suddenly taken
that step, it was unclear how what seemed to be a significant
concession by Damascus would play out inside Syria and its
30-month-old civil conflict.  "Our commitment to the Russian
initiative has the goal of ending our possession of chemical
arms," Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said in a
statement read from Moscow and broadcast by Lebanon's pro-regime
Al-Mayadeen channel. Mr. Moallem looked grim-faced and spoke
hesitantly, in marked contrast to his usual relaxed appearances.
Syrian state media outlets including the state-controlled news
agency SANA didn't carry Mr. Moallem's statement. Instead,
Syrian state television reran an interview with President Bashar
al-Assad by the U.S. TV network CBS that was recorded on Friday
in which the Syrian leader threatens a re