Hollande “Regrets Not Intervening in Syria, Excludes Alliance With Assad

French President Francois Hollande on Monday urged more support for the “moderate” Syrian opposition groups seeking to oust the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad and he excluded any alliance with the Syrian leader to fight against ISIL and other extremists in that country. Speaking on “France Inter” radio, Hollande again regretted that there was no military intervention in Syria at a time when this was justified because of the regime’s use of chemical weapons. “We must support the opposition (in Syria),” Hollande said. He added that he continued to regret “the fact that we didn’t intervene in Syria when chemical weapons were used in August 2013.” “There was no intervention and now Daesh (ISIL), a terrorist movement, has installed itself there and some are starting to say that finally should we not start talking with Bashar Al-Assad,” Hollande added. But the French leader firmly ruled out any alliance with Al-Assad against extremists in Syria. “When you start allying yourself with the devil, it is rare that God will come to your aid,” he said of the Syrian situation. “It is better to avoid this type of relationship,” the President remarked. Meanwhile, Samantha Power, US Ambassador to the United Nations, said that “the latest findings offer further evidence that the Syrian government has repeatedly attacked its own citizens with poison gas. Commenting after a meeting of the UN Security Council (UNSC), Ms. Power said the report reinforced allegations that the Syrian government used chlorine gas as a weapon in its four-year-old civil war after pledging to give up its chemical arsenal. “UNSC met on Syria CW today and reviewed more compelling eyewitness evidence of chlorine gas use by Syrian regime,” Ms. Power tweeted . (Source: Syrian Coalition + Haberturk)