France said on Friday that a binding U.N. Security Council resolution was needed to police Syria's promise to give up its chemical weapons, insisting that the matter could not be left to an international watchdog, reports Reuters.
Syria applied on Thursday to sign up to the global treaty banning chemical weapons, a major first step in a Russian-backed plan that would see it give up its stocks of poison gas to avert U.S. military strikes.
However, France, which had been set to join the U.S. strikes, fears Assad may play for time by trying to deal solely with the treaty body, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
"The statements by the Syrian regime are useful, but definitely insufficient," Foreign Ministry spokesman Philippe Lalliot said. "We can't just accept statements of intent by the Syrians. We need commitments that can be set, monitored and checked."
Read more of this report from Reuters.