France asks for UN resolution on Aleppo ceasefire after violence rages

France wants to put forward a UN Security Council resolution for a ceasefire in the Syrian city of Aleppo, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Wednesday.

Ayrault said "those who don't vote for it, risk being held responsible for complicity in war crimes."

"We are proposing to discuss a resolution to obtain a ceasefire in Aleppo. This resolution will leave everyone facing their responsibilities," Ayrault told lawmakers.

"We will not let Aleppo become the Guernica of the 21st century," he said, referring to the Nazi force's bombing of civilians in the Basque town during the Spanish Civil War in 1937 to support Spanish general Francisco Franco to overthrow the Basque government.

The French top diplomat also said seeking for a separate UN resolution to condemn the use of chemical weapons in Syrian conflict after a joint probe by the UN and the global chemical weapons watchdogs showed that toxic gas had been used for the 2014-2016 period.

"The Security Council must condemn the use of chemical weapons under chapter 7," Ayrault said.

On Wednesday, Syrian military intensified its airstrikes on rebel positions in the northern city of Aleppo, after the Syrian army backed by Russian air force, captured the al-Farafira district in Aleppo's old quarter, an offensive widely seen as a turning point in the five-year civil war. Endit