France Confirms it is Working to Establish Buffer Zone Within Syria

As government forces launched a devastating aerial and artillery assault on the eastern outskirts of Damascus, Francois Hollande, the French president, declared on Monday night that he and his international partners were closer than ever before to a formal intervention in Syria.

“We are working … [on] the initiative of buffer zones proposed by Turkey,” Mr Hollande said. “We are doing so in co-ordination with our closest partners.”

Indicating the formation of a twin-pronged Western strategy, Mr Hollande also became the first international leader to urge the Syrian opposition to form a provisional government, promising to grant it immediate recognition once it is formed .... http://www.telegraph.co.uk