Georgia is among those eight more countries, which have signed on to a statement on Syria blaming President Bashar al-Assad for chemical weapons attack and calling for “a strong international response”, the White House said on September 10.

33 countries have so far joined the statement, which was first released by the U.S. and 10 other initial signatory countries last week after the G20 summit in St. Petersburg.

“We welcome additional countries expressing their support for this statement and our continued efforts to hold the Assad regime accountable and enforce the international norm against the use of chemical weapons,” the White House said on September 10.

Also on September 10, President Barack Obama said he had asked the Congress to put off a vote authorizing military action in order to explore Russian proposal to push President Assad to give up his chemical weapons.

“It’s too early to tell whether this offer will succeed,” President Obama said. “But this initiative has the potential to remove the threat of chemical weapons without the use of force.”