Rice was the lone dissenter in President Obama's national security team on his decision to seek congressional authorization for military strikes against Syria's chemical weapons facilities, following the Assad regime's use of sarin gas against civilians in August 2013. She argued that the administration should move forward with strikes to punish Assad, correctly predicting Congress would not grant authorization. Rice and Kerry later worked to pursue a diplomatic solution with Russia instead. This effort led to United Nations Security Council Resolution 2118, which compelled Syria to destroy its declared chemical weapons stockpile and join the Chemical Weapons Convention. Under the agreement, 1,300 metric tons of chemical weapons were removed from Syria under international observation. However, the Assad regime either obtained or created gas for renewed chemical attacks in 2017.