Laurent Fabius, French Foreign Minister, denied that Bashar al-Assad had any role in the Syrian peace talks on Monday. He added that making Assad a party to the peace process in Syria would be what he termed, a “scandalous gift” to the terrorist group of Islamic State.
The comments of Fabius came only a day after John Kerry, US Secretary of State, had admitted that talks with Assad had been essential to end the bloody conflict in Syria going on for the last five years.
“The solution is a political transition which would preserve regime institutions, not Mr. Bashar Al-Assad. Any other solution which would keep Mr. Assad in the saddle would be an absolutely scandalous, gigantic gift to Daesh,” Fabius was quoted by AFP as having said in Brussels, using another name for ISIS.
“The millions of Syrians who have been persecuted by Assad would transfer their support to Daesh. Obviously that must be avoided,” he added.
The French minister said he had spoken to Kerry on Monday morning and that the top U.S. diplomat “assured me that there was absolutely nothing new in the American position on Syria.”
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls also criticized the comments, saying “there will be no solution as long as Bashar Al-Assad leads Syria.” (Source: Syrian Coalition + Agencies)
