Syria is "comfortable" with a UN Security Council resolution on destroying its chemical weapons and will not discuss the future of President Bashar al-Assad, the country's foreign minister said Saturday.

Walid Muallem told reporters the resolution voted by the 15-nation council late Friday meant the opposition could be the target of UN sanctions.

"I am comfortable with the resolution," Muallem said at the UN headquarters where he will give Syria's address to the UN General Assembly on Monday.

"It calls for Chapter VII against the terrorists," the foreign minister added.

Assad's government habitually calls the opposition groups battling to overthrow him "terrorists".

The UN resolution allows the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to start a mission this week to collect and destroy Syria's arms.

It does not allow for immediate sanctions under Chapter VII of the UN Charter in Syria, but there could be a new vote on measures if the disarmament accord is violated.

The UN says chemical weapons were used in an August 21 attack in Damascus that left hundreds dead. The United States and other western nations blame government forces for the killings. Assad's government says opposition rebels were behind the sarin gas attack.

Muallem said he was "worried" that opposition groups have chemical weapons.

The UN is also hoping to organize a Syria peace conference in mid-November to negotiate a transitional government. But Muallem signaled that there could be no talk of Assad's departure, as the opposition and Western nations have demanded.

"There can be no discussion of the future of President Assad. It is in the constitution," Muallem said.

US President Barack Obama told the UN General Assembly again this week that Assad would have to quit.

Muallem said Assad was determined to see out his term and would stand for re-election. Assad has said there will be an election in 2014.

China welcomes UN Syria chemical arms resolution: Xinhua
Beijing (AFP) Sept 28, 2013 - China welcomed a United Nations resolution aimed at destroying Syria's chemical arms, and urged the major powers to ensure their decisions "can stand the test of history", state media reported Saturday.

Beijing was "heartened" to see the landmark UN Security Council resolution on Friday which ordered the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons and condemned a murderous poison gas attack in Damascus, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, according to state-run news agency Xinhua.

"In dealing with the Syrian issue, the Security Council must bear in mind the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, act with a sense of responsibility to the Syrian people, the world and history, and ensure that any decision it takes can stand the test of history," he told the council after the vote, Xinhua reported.

"We hope that the relevant parties will stay in close cooperation, fulfil their respective responsibilities... (to) achieve a proper settlement of the issue of chemical weapons in Syria," Wang added.

The UN Security Council -- of which China is a member -- overcame a prolonged deadlock to approve the first council resolution on the conflict, which is now 30 months old with more than 100,000 dead.

Resolution 2118, the result of bruising negotiations between the United States and Russia, gives international binding force to a plan drawn up by the two to eliminate President Bashar al-Assad's chemical arms.

China routinely voices opposition to interference in other countries' domestic affairs and strongly opposes military action over Syria.

A statement was released on the foreign ministry's website Saturday, welcoming the resolution and offering to "send experts to participate in the work and to provide funds".