PARIS, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Foreign ministers of France, Britain and the U.S. were scheduled to meet in Paris on Monday afternoon to discuss the Syrian crisis, France's foreign ministry said on Friday.
On the same day, the foreign ministry also said France considered Syria's plan to sign up the global treaty banning chemical arms "insufficient" and that a U.N. resolution was necessary to end Syrian crisis.
"The statements by the Syrian regime are useful, but definitely insufficient. We can't just accept statements of intent by the Syrians. We need commitments that can be set, monitored and checked," foreign ministry spokesman Philippe Lalliot said.
"There has to be a U.N. Security Council resolution because it is a text that is legally binding. All other texts within the council are insufficient, such as a presidential declaration...," he added.
On Thursday, Damascus accepted a Russian proposal to place its chemical arsenal under international control and allow its destruction to avert an eventual U.S.-led military operation.
Experts say removing 1,000 tons of chemical weapons, located in secret installations, would take long months and even years to destroy the total stocks.
"It's a time frame that is much longer than we expect. If there were any breaches, they would need to be punished, otherwise resolutions would have no sense," Lalliot said.
France proposed a U.N. resolution outlining conditions to ensure the chemical arms handover by setting "extremely serious consequences for violation of Syria's commitment" and sanctions "against the perpetrators of the chemical massacre ... who have to be brought before the International Criminal Court.
The Syrian opposition claimed that some 1,300 people were killed in a chemical weapon attack by the government troops on militant strongholds in the suburbs of Damascus on August 21, something the Syrian government strongly denied.
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