Hollande calls for UN intervention in Syria

French President Francois Hollande on Saturday urged the UN Security Council to rapidly intervene in the Syria conflict to preempt new massacres there. "The role of the countries of the Security Council is to intervene as quickly as possible," he said addressing Damascus allies Russia and China and warning that failure to do so would mean chaos and civil war. Hollande said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, which launched a massive assault on rebels in the country's commercial capital Aleppo, "is condemned and will therefore use force right to the end, considering that the only solution which will allow Syrians to reconcile and reunite is the departure of Bashar al-Assad and the formation of a transitional government. Russia and China vetoed three UN Security Council resolutions condemning the Syrian regime in response to the escalating violence in the country.