France to propose UN Chapter 7 provision on Syria

France will propose making United Nations envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan for Syria obligatory by invoking the U.N.'s "Chapter 7" provision, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Wednesday, describing the conflict there as a "civil war". Fabius said he hoped Russia would agree to using Chapter 7, a measures which can authorise the use of force, and he said that a no-fly zone was another option under discussion. "We propose making the implementation of the Annan plan compulsory," he told a news conference. "We need to pass to the next speed at the Security Council and place the Annan plan under Chapter 7 - that is to say make it compulsory under pain of very heavy sanctions." France would propose toughening sanctions on Syria at the next meeting of EU foreign ministers, he said. He said the international community would prepare a list of second-ranking military officials who would be pursued by international justice, alongside President Bashar al-Assad and his immediate entourage. "They must understand that the only future is in resisting oppression. The time for taking a decision has arrived. They have to jump ship," Fabius said.