LONDON: Britain, France and the United States on Monday agreed to step up their backing for rebels fighting Syrian government.
The three powers also agreed at talks in Paris that President Bashar al-Assad would face “serious consequences” if he fails to comply with a UN resolution setting out a timetable for the handover of Syria’s chemical weapons to international control, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said.
US Secretary of State John Kerry did not use the word “serious”, saying: “If Assad fails to comply with the framework we are all agreed that there will be consequences.”
Kerry, who agreed the terms of the weapons handover with his Russian counterpart in Geneva on Saturday, said the allies were committed to keeping up the pressure on Assad.
“Each of us here today are here to emphasise the same thing, that what we achieved in this agreement has to be translated into a UN resolution, it has to be strong, it has to forceful it has to be real, it has to be transparent, it has to be timely, all of those things are critical, and it has to be enforced.
“If the Assad regime believes that this is not enforceable and we are not serious, they will play games.”
Force rebels to talk peace
Meanwhile Lavrov said it may be time for the West to force the Syrian opposition to attend the planned Geneva conference. He was speaking in Moscow after meeting Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy.
He added that the plan that Russia agreed to follow did not involve any automatic use of military force against Syria unless sanctioned by the UN Security Council. Agencies
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