US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called Thursday for tough UN sanctions against the Syrian regime to pressure President Bashar al-Assad to comply with a UN-brokered ceasefire, dpa reported.
"I think we have to do more to take tougher actions against the Assad regime," she told a meeting of foreign ministers from the Friends of Syria group in Paris, according to a transcript of her remarks.
"We need to start moving very vigorously in the Security Council for a Chapter 7 sanctions resolution, including travel, financial sanctions, an arms embargo, and the pressure that that will give us on the regime to push for compliance with Kofi Annan's six-point plan."
Clinton, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and a dozen other top diplomats from Western and Arab states were meeting to discuss how to pressure Assad into respecting a shaky UN-brokered ceasefire.