French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius Monday called on the Syrian regime to end the siege of rebel-held Madaya and said a halt to air strikes by the regime and its Russian ally was an "absolute necessity".

It is an "absolute necessity for Syria and Russia to stop their military operations against civilian populations, and in particular that the ordeal facing Madaya and all the besieged Syrian villages come to an end," Fabius told journalists during his New Year's greeting.