France 'ready to amend' bid for Syria resolution

France is ready to amend its UN Security Council resolution draft calling on Syria to give up its chemical weapons or face military action, a foreign ministry spokesman said, after the proposal was rejected as "unacceptable" by Russia.

Foreign ministry spokesman Philippe Lalliot told AFP yesterday that Paris was "ready to amend (the) draft as long as its main principles and aims are preserved."

"It is astonishing that the Russians are rejecting a document that they haven't even seen," said Lalliot. "It is naturally our intention to discuss it with them."

Britain, France and the United States were expected to put forward the resolution at the Security Council later Tuesday which includes a "proper timetable" for the regime of Bashar al-Assad to hand over its chemical weapons.

But the meeting on Syria planned for 2000 GMT was postponed at the request of Russia, council envoys said.

No reason was given for calling off the closed-door talks among the 15 council members.

Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said yesterday that the resolution to be presented by France would demand full disclosure by the Syrian regime of the scale of the chemical weapons programme.

It would also commit the UN to "serious measures" in the event of non-compliance as well as call for the authors of a deadly August 21 chemical weapons attack to be held responsible for their actions.