U.N. Security Council Meeting on Syria Put Back

France will seek to organize a ministerial-level U.N. Security Council meeting on Syria before the end of August, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in a statement on Wednesday.

France currently holds the rotating chair of the Security Council and Fabius had said on Monday that Paris would try to organize a meeting before the end of this week.

Diplomatic sources said the meeting had been put back to avoid it clashing with an Arab League move to get the U.N.'s General Assembly adopt a resolution calling on Syrian President Bashar Assad to hand power to a transitional government.

The General Assembly is due to vote on the resolution on Thursday.