(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) PARIS, March 2 (KUNA) -- French President Emmanuel Macron and US leader Donald Trump on Friday held a telephone conversation to discuss principally the situation in Syria and the UN Security Council resolution voted a week ago, calling for a total cease-fire across Syrian territory for 30 days, the Elysee Palace said.
The resolution has been violated consistently and Russia has sought to get a partial 5-hour truce in the Eastern Ghouta area, near Damascus, where close to 700 people are believed to have been killed by Syrian regime assaults over the past 10 days.
The Russian initiative has not succeeded in alleviating the humanitarian catastrophe in Eastern Ghouta so Macron and Trump agreed in their call that because of the "ongoing indiscriminate bombardments," Russia most "exercise maximum, unambiguous pressure on the Damascus regime" so that it commits clearly to the UN resolution that Kuwait and Sweden championed.
Macron and Trump committed to working together to achieve the implementation of Resolution 2401 and get a cessation of hostilities, the delivery of much-needed humanitarian aid and the evacuation of wounded and ill from Eastern Ghouta, the Elysee added.
The French leader also warned that he remained "extremely vigilant" on the question of chemical weapons use in Syria and he said France would give "a firm response to any proven use of chemical weapons that causes civilian deaths." Macron several months ago warned of a unilateral military "riposte" by France to any use of chemical weapons in Syria.
On Friday, however, he said that France and the United States were working in "perfect coordination" on this issue.
"France and the United States will not tolerate impunity," the statement warned. (end) jk.gta
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