France outlines 3 priority actions in ongoing Syrian conflict

France on Friday outlined three areas for priority action in the Syrian conflict, emphasising the need for urgent measures to alleviate the suffering of the Syrian people and stem the mounting death toll among civilians, the resumption of the transition process, and the termination of the disarmament process for Syrian chemical weapons. "Today, France's action has three priorities in the Syrian crisis," Foreign Ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said in a briefing. "The first priority is humanitarian and we are acting in the Security Council for the adoption of a resolution which would allow us to secure access to all of the Syrian population on Syrian territory," he stated. He said that this access is "very difficult" because "the regime has laid siege to a certain number of towns (and) is starving the population and massacring (people) with explosive barrels" containing TNT. "What we want is that the Security Council adopt such a resolution. It was discussed these past days and we hope a vote can take place rapidly." France also wants the Geneva talks, which ended in stalemate after two sessions, to continue. "We must move towards (political) transition via the Geneva process," Nadal affirmed. "It is difficult as the regime is demonstrating intransigence and a closed (attitude). But we should not be discouraged and we have to pursue this political process in Geneva," he added. Thirdly, for France, Syria must continue and complete the disarmament process agreed for its chemical weapons. Nadal said Syria has fallen behind on its obligations but Syria must cooperate with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which is meeting Friday to go a "status stage report" on the destruction of the WMD arsenal. "This process must continue," Nadal urged, noting that "unfortunately, the timetable has not been respected."