France pushing for UNSC to make Annan's peace plan mandatory in Syria

Damascus, June 14 (ANI): France has demanded that the United Nations Security Council make Kofi Annan's peace plan for Syria legally binding on that country.

According to The Telegraph, France made the demand as Western powers were working on a fresh United Nations Security Council resolution to rescue the peace plan.

French Foreign Minsiter Lurent Fabius noted that some countries concerned were getting increasingly worried about the situation in Syria.

"We even heard today China expressing its deep concern," Fabius said.

"So, the Security Council must now step up a gear, and place under Chapter Seven, that is to say make obligatory, the terms of the Annan Plan, or face very tough sanctions," he said.

Fabius said Paris wanted a resolution under the UN's Chapter 7 provision that would enforce the six-point plan with the threat of sanctions, legal action, or even military intervention.

Describing the conflict in Syria as a 'civil war', Fabius said: "Every day dozens and dozens of Syrians are dying at the hands of Bashar al-Assad's regime. We have therefore decided to strengthen our efforts to stop this regime of death and blood."

British Foreign Minister William Hague will meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Thursday and appeal to him to support the setting up an international contact group to help rescue the Annan Plan without the presence of Syria's closest ally, Iran.

Russia and China have so far refused to accept any UN-backed sanctions against Syria. (ANI)