France, Russia and the United States are trying to draw up a list of Syrian officials with whom the opposition can negotiate, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Tuesday.

"We worked together on an idea... of a list of Syrian officials who would be acceptable to Syria's opposition National Coalition," he told the foreign affairs committee of the National Assembly.

French Ambassador to Lebanon Patrice Paoli on Tuesday announced that France does not interfere in the Lebanese debate over the electoral law, stressing the need for parliamentary elections to take place on time.

Following talks in Ain al-Tineh, Paoli quoted Speaker Nabih Berri as saying that “it is important to respect and advance the constitutional process and norms.”

Israeli President Shimon Peres, delivering an historic address to the European Parliament, on Tuesday called for Arab League intervention in Syria "to stop the massacre".

"The Arab League can and should form a provisional government in Syria to stop the massacre, to prevent Syria from falling to pieces. The United Nations should support the Arab League to build an Arab force in blue helmets," he said.

A heavy late-winter snowstorm battered northwestern Europe on Tuesday, causing massive disruptions including the closure of Frankfurt airport and the suspension of trains between Paris and London.

The unseasonable snowfall -- coming only eight days before the official start of spring -- also knocked out power to thousands of people in France and left hundreds of motorists stranded in their cars.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on Monday said the European Union may need to rethink its Syria arms embargo to help insurgents fighting the Damascus regime.

"It seems obvious to me that the question of lifting the arms embargo will be increasingly on the table due to the evident imbalance between Bashar Assad, who is being supplied with powerful weaponry from Iran and Russia, and the National Coalition, which does not have such weapons," Fabius said after talks with his 26 European Union counterparts.

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Monday he expected more heavy fighting for French forces in northeastern Mali but that the area should be secured by the end of March.

"We are liberating this territory meter by meter. There will surely be more heavy fighting," he told Le Monde newspaper in an interview. "Within three weeks, if all goes as planned, this area will be completely inspected."

French President Francois Hollande on Friday lamented the deadlock over Syria, lashing out at Russia for not pressuring President Bashar Assad to step down and allow for a political transition in the conflict-torn country.

Hollande said that although he will try to convince the Syrian opposition to negotiate with others than the Syrian leader, "the Russians still need to reach out and convince Bashar Assad to stand aside".

Sanctions on Iran over its contested nuclear program are biting but need to be strengthened further, French President Francois Hollande and his Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres said on Friday.

Western powers suspect Iran's nuclear program to be a cover for building an atomic weapons capability, a charge which Tehran strongly denies.

The French intervention force in Mali has wrapped up most of its work but there are still some problem areas in the north, Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Friday.

Some 4,000 French troops are in Mali working with West African forces and Malian soldiers to hunt down Islamist rebels after a Paris-led offensive launched in January drove them from areas of northern Mali they seized last year.

A French-Malian citizen arrested in November for allegedly seeking to join Islamist militants in Mali has been expelled to France where he will be held for questioning, a French judicial source said Thursday.

Ibrahim Aziz Ouattara, 25, was arrested on November 3 in central Mali on his way to join the Islamists, after allegedly entering Mali through Portugal under a false identity.