Hollande: France Would Join U.N.-Sanctioned Syria Intervention

The French presidential frontrunner, Socialist Francois Hollande, said Friday that he would support France joining a U.N.-sanctioned military intervention in Syria.

"If done within a U.N. framework, we would participate in such an intervention," Hollande told Europe 1 radio when asked about possible U.N. military action in Syria to protect civilians.

Western and Middle East powers meeting in Paris on Thursday said that they would seek tougher international action if Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime continues to flout a shaky U.N. peace plan.

They said a U.N. observer mission in Syria would be dramatically reinforced and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for the U.N. Security Council to authorize tough new measures against Assad.

She also raised the prospect that Turkey could react to "outrageous" Syrian shelling on its border by invoking a clause in the NATO alliance treaty that would require members to decide if their security is threatened.

Hollande is tipped in opinion polls to win France's two-round April 22-May 6 presidential election.