Untangling Syria: Europe’s top diplomats mull new strategy

“We won’t be able to solve the conflict from outside, without involving regional countries”, she underscored.

On August 31, she welcomed Iran’s potential participation in negotiations aimed at putting an end to the Syrian conflict. Israel, which has kept a wary eye on neighbouring Syria, and in particular on Iran’s growing influence, is keener to co-operate with Mr Putin than to oppose him.

“Syria knows the real Islam, atop the minarets and in the mosques”, Minister of Religious Endowment Ahmed Samer Qabbani said in a sermon at the Al-Adel mosque quoted by SANA.

“While the Eid is linked to happiness in the Muslim nation’s life, it has not been that in our homeland, where the Syrians are banned from performing Hajj and where the enemies have engraved pains in our country“, al-Qabbani said in his sermon.

“He [Assad] is the reason ISIL, and other terrorist groups, have been allowed to fester and grow and sustain themselves inside Syria”.

In fact, Assad’s regime is a continuation of that instituted by his father and predecessor, Hafez al-Assad, when he took over the presidency in 1971. In the meantime, virtually all the Syrians I have spoken with agree that stopping Assad’s barrel bombs is now the most urgent task to reduce their suffering-and the flow of refugees.

Assad, like all Arab dictators, has relied on Western fears of terrorism to persuade them that’s he’s all that stands between Syria and a complete extremist takeover. Instead of joining the chorus of criticism against countries like Hungary and Serbia-which are beset with internal problems and played no part in inciting the war-they should take more responsibility for helping the refugees.

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has made similar comments.

Europe’s position on Assad has so far been to refuse to engage, but Merkel has claimed a change of approach is needed. Despite generous aid from Iran and Russian Federation, his regime has recently been losing ground.

Even though the resulting protests and global pressure forced a formal Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon, wishful thinking prompted Western leaders to try and rehabilitate Assad, turning a blind eye to his repressive and mafia-style business practices, on which his regime is based.

From the start of the Syrian Civil War, Western nations have been more or less universally agreed on one point, that Syrian President Bashar Assad has to go.

But French President Francois Hollande has insisted “there can be no transition without his departure”.

The next best option to hitting Iran still remains: Knock out its most reliable ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the use of weapons on Syrian territory is justified due to a string of Islamist attacks in Europe.