French FM calls Bashar al-Assad "executioner"
France says it will push a new effort to address the crisis in Syria through the United Nations Security Council, which has been divided by camps wanting to exert pressure to end the ongoing violence and those declaring the situation an internal matter, Voice of America reports.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Monday that France will request a Security Council meeting, "probably on the ministerial level," by the end of this week. France takes over the rotating Security Council presidency on Wednesday.
Fabius called Syrian President Bashar al-Assad an "executioner" and echoed fears of a possible massacre voiced earlier by the United States, Britain and the United Nations.
The opposition Syrian National Council on Sunday urged the Security Council to hold an emergency session on the situation in Syria's commercial hub, Aleppo, alleging that the government is planning to commit a massacre there.
The Security Council has voted three times on resolutions aimed at stopping the fighting in Syria. Russia and China, two of the Council's five permanent members, have vetoed each measure.
