France favors more UN monitors for Syria
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}France believes an effective force of international observers for Syria would need 300 to 400 observers equipped with "some robust munitions" to help end months of bloodshed in the country.
President Bashar Assad's regime says it will accept no more than 250, while the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon have asked for 300 observers to be sent in.
The call from French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe came as France was preparing to host Thursday about a dozen top diplomats from the so-called "Friends of Syria" to look for ways of helping special envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The group believes Annan plan is the "last chance" to avoid Syrian civil war, France says.
Meanwhile, in Geneva, Annan said Syria's government and the United Nations have agreed on rules governing the U.N.'s advance team of truce monitors.