PARIS - Top U.S., European and Arab diplomats have started talks on how to bolster an international mission to end the bloodshed in Syria. The meeting comes after UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said Syria's government was not fulfilling its obligations in a cease-fire.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe opened the Paris meeting Thursday by saying that failure to fully apply special envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan "would be catastrophic" and would mean "the road to civil war or even regional war."
Juppe urged "several hundred" international monitors who could "clearly judge the effectiveness of the Annan plan."
Ban said Thursday that the situation in the Arab country is "highly precarious" and that attacks are on the rise despite the truce.
