EnglishLady
Veteran Expediter
BBC
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius says he will call on the UN Security Council to make mediator Kofi Annan's Syria peace plan mandatory.
France would propose that Mr Annan's six-point plan be enforced under the UN's Chapter Seven provision, he said.
Mr Fabius said the conflict had become a "civil war", a claim denied by both the Syrian government and opposition.
Meanwhile, Russia has rejected US accusations that it is sending attack helicopters to Damascus
On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned that the sale of helicopters would "escalate the conflict quite dramatically".
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov - on a visit to Tehran - insisted that Russia was "not supplying Syria or any other country with items which can be used against peaceful protesters, unlike the United States, which regularly supplies weapons to the region".
Russia and fellow UN Security Council member, China, would be unlikely to accept a Chapter Seven resolution, which allows for action to be backed up by force. But Mr Fabius told a news conference in Paris that he hoped Moscow would agree to the proposal.
It was necessary "to resort to Chapter Seven to make the provisions of the Annan plan mandatory", he said.
"We are working towards this and hope that this move will be swiftly implemented."
'Heavy sanctions'
Back in April, Mr Fabius's predecessor as France's foreign minister, Alain Juppe, warned that if the Annan plan failed then the UN would "have to move to a new stage" involving enforcement.
Under the Annan plan, all armed violence has to end and all parties must ensure provision of humanitarian assistance to all areas affected by the fighting.
The authorities are also required to ensure freedom of movement for journalists and the right for people to demonstrate peacefully
Mr Fabius said the Annan plan would now have to be enforced "under pain of very heavy sanctions".
He said he would get in touch immediately with his European and American colleagues to propose a raft of new, "tougher" measures that would hit not only Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad but also "army officials and all those who support Assad".
Russia and China both have a veto at the UN Security Council and have already blocked two resolutions calling for tougher action against Damascus.
Earlier on Wednesday, Syrian forces seized control of the western mountain town of Haffa after fierce fighting with rebels. State media said Haffa had been "purged of terrorists" and government forces had "restored security and calm to the area".
The rebel Free Syrian Army said it had pulled its fighters out of the area to spare residents from further massive bombardments.
Syrian activists said at least 40 people were killed by security forces across the country on Wednesday. At least 12 people, most of them women and children, died in attacks by helicopters and artillery on the rebel-held town of Rastan, north of Homs, activists reported.
The government said it had buried 27 military personnel killed in the conflict.
As diplomatic moves over Syria intensify, the Russian foreign minister is due to meet British Foreign Secretary William Hague in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Thursday.
Asked by reporters whether he felt Syria had descended into civil war, Mr Hague said: "I continue to put it the same way as the last few days, that Syria is on the edge of collapse or of a deadly sectarian civil war."
The Syrian government and opposition have both denied that Syria has degenerated into civil war. Damascus says it is clearing out foreign-backed terrorists, while the opposition argues it is trying to defend a continuing mass uprising, the BBC's Jim Muir reports from neighbouring Lebanon.
Annan's six-point peace plan
1. Syrian-led political process to address the aspirations and concerns of the Syrian people
2. UN-supervised cessation of armed violence in all its forms by all parties to protect civilians
3. All parties to ensure provision of humanitarian assistance to all areas affected by the fighting, and implement a daily two-hour humanitarian pause
4. Authorities to intensify the pace and scale of release of arbitrarily detained persons
5. Authorities to ensure freedom of movement throughout the country for journalists
6. Authorities to respect freedom of association and the right to demonstrate peacefully
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius says he will call on the UN Security Council to make mediator Kofi Annan's Syria peace plan mandatory.
France would propose that Mr Annan's six-point plan be enforced under the UN's Chapter Seven provision, he said.
Mr Fabius said the conflict had become a "civil war", a claim denied by both the Syrian government and opposition.
Meanwhile, Russia has rejected US accusations that it is sending attack helicopters to Damascus
On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned that the sale of helicopters would "escalate the conflict quite dramatically".
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov - on a visit to Tehran - insisted that Russia was "not supplying Syria or any other country with items which can be used against peaceful protesters, unlike the United States, which regularly supplies weapons to the region".
Russia and fellow UN Security Council member, China, would be unlikely to accept a Chapter Seven resolution, which allows for action to be backed up by force. But Mr Fabius told a news conference in Paris that he hoped Moscow would agree to the proposal.
It was necessary "to resort to Chapter Seven to make the provisions of the Annan plan mandatory", he said.
"We are working towards this and hope that this move will be swiftly implemented."
'Heavy sanctions'
Back in April, Mr Fabius's predecessor as France's foreign minister, Alain Juppe, warned that if the Annan plan failed then the UN would "have to move to a new stage" involving enforcement.
Under the Annan plan, all armed violence has to end and all parties must ensure provision of humanitarian assistance to all areas affected by the fighting.
The authorities are also required to ensure freedom of movement for journalists and the right for people to demonstrate peacefully
Mr Fabius said the Annan plan would now have to be enforced "under pain of very heavy sanctions".
He said he would get in touch immediately with his European and American colleagues to propose a raft of new, "tougher" measures that would hit not only Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad but also "army officials and all those who support Assad".
Russia and China both have a veto at the UN Security Council and have already blocked two resolutions calling for tougher action against Damascus.
Earlier on Wednesday, Syrian forces seized control of the western mountain town of Haffa after fierce fighting with rebels. State media said Haffa had been "purged of terrorists" and government forces had "restored security and calm to the area".
The rebel Free Syrian Army said it had pulled its fighters out of the area to spare residents from further massive bombardments.
Syrian activists said at least 40 people were killed by security forces across the country on Wednesday. At least 12 people, most of them women and children, died in attacks by helicopters and artillery on the rebel-held town of Rastan, north of Homs, activists reported.
The government said it had buried 27 military personnel killed in the conflict.
As diplomatic moves over Syria intensify, the Russian foreign minister is due to meet British Foreign Secretary William Hague in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Thursday.
Asked by reporters whether he felt Syria had descended into civil war, Mr Hague said: "I continue to put it the same way as the last few days, that Syria is on the edge of collapse or of a deadly sectarian civil war."
The Syrian government and opposition have both denied that Syria has degenerated into civil war. Damascus says it is clearing out foreign-backed terrorists, while the opposition argues it is trying to defend a continuing mass uprising, the BBC's Jim Muir reports from neighbouring Lebanon.
Annan's six-point peace plan
1. Syrian-led political process to address the aspirations and concerns of the Syrian people
2. UN-supervised cessation of armed violence in all its forms by all parties to protect civilians
3. All parties to ensure provision of humanitarian assistance to all areas affected by the fighting, and implement a daily two-hour humanitarian pause
4. Authorities to intensify the pace and scale of release of arbitrarily detained persons
5. Authorities to ensure freedom of movement throughout the country for journalists
6. Authorities to respect freedom of association and the right to demonstrate peacefully
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