France to host Syria meeting amid 'total war'

By Hajer M'tiri

PARIS

Paris will host a high-level meeting between countries supporting the moderate Syrian opposition in early December, France’s foreign minister confirmed on Wednesday.

Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said the Syrian regime and its allies were waging “total war’” against opposition-held areas.

The United States, France, Germany, Italy, Britain and Turkey will attend, as well as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.

"Today one million people are besieged. Not just in Aleppo, but in Homs, Ghouta and Idlib, and that's the reality of the situation in Syria," Ayrault told reporters after a weekly cabinet meeting.

"France is taking an initiative to confront this strategy of total war by the regime and its allies, who are taking advantage of the current uncertainty in the United States," he added.

Ayrault said he had invited "countries who are friends of Syrian democracy and of the democratic Syrian opposition" to take part of the meeting.

He said the international community "must stop averting its gaze" from the "terrible reality" of what was happening in Syria, especially in the besieged city of Aleppo.

The Syrian regime and allies’ airstrikes have killed more than 320 civilians -- including women and children -- in eastern Aleppo over the last six days according to local civil defense officials.

"It is urgent that we react," Ayrault said.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests -- which erupted as part of the "Arab Spring" uprisings -- with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have been killed and millions more displaced.