France: Syria Plan Should Be ‘Compulsory’

Call for Security Council to Authorize 'Military or Non-Military Action' to Impose Deal

Agreeing with yesterday’s UN assessment that Syria is in a “state of civil war,” French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius today called for the UN Security Council to invoke Chapter 7 of the UN charter on the situation and make the Annan peace deal “compulsory.

Chapter 7 amounts to the UN’s authorization for the use of military force, giving member nations an excuse to use military action to impose a UN decision on a country.

Most recently, Chapter 7 was invoked in UN Security Council Resolution 1973, which NATO used as the justification for its attack on Libya and the imposition of a regime change on the country.

This is, of course, exactly what France has been calling for for several months, wanting to oust Bashar Assad and install the rebels in his place. Particularly after the Libya debauchle, it is a foregone conclusion that Russia will reject any resolution that even hints at an authorization for a military attack, believing NATO will interpret anything as an excuse for a full-scale invasion.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.