Speaking live on TF1 television, Hollande stressed that the international community must prepare for the possibility of sanctions "in case of non-implementation of the accord" as part of a UN resolution that could be voted on within the next seven days.

"The military option must remain, otherwise there will be no constraint," he added.

His comments come a day after US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov announced an ambitious deal to dismantle and destroy Syria's chemical arms stockpile by mid-2014.

The accord temporarily averts the threat of military strikes on Syria that France and the United States had initially touted as a way to punish President Bashar al-Assad's regime for a deadly poison gas attack on August 21 they blame on Damascus.

France was not part of the three-day negotiations between Kerry and Lavrov to reach the chemical arms deal, but has said its determination to stick to a firm line helped deliver the progress achieved in Geneva.

AFP