Syria’s Assad: Paris attacks result of French policy

Meanwhile, Syrians around the world expressed their solidarity with the people of Paris online.

The Syrian regime has avoided large-scale fights with the Islamic State.

“The bad attacks in Paris have only made our common determination to fight ISIS bigger and stronger”, said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, referring to Islamic State by one of its acronyms. “That will help to end the bloodshed as quickly as possible and I might add that will help rapidly to define who wants to be considered a terrorist and who is not”, said US Secretary of State John Kerry. But none are mentioning Assad. The West and Gulf countries want him out without further delay. Because if it doesn’t happen, this war won’t end.

Iran says it opposed the inclusion of a clause that would have asked for the removal of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad from power in the statement that was issued following recent talks in Vienna on the Syrian conflict. He mentioned the barrel bombs, the torture of civilians in custody, the use of chemical weapons, all by Assad’s forces.

Lavrov said most but not all countries at the talks were in favor of an immediate truce. France is part of the U.S.-led coalition carrying out air strikes against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

The final communiqué agreed that the Diaspora should be allowed to vote in the elections, a key sticking point in negotiations. “So it’s not about Assad”, Lavrov said.

Neither Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government nor the armed rebels seeking to overthrow him were at the 19-nation talks in Vienna.

“The flawed policies pursued by Western countries and especially France as regards what is happening in our region … contributed to the spread of terrorism”, Assad was quoted as saying on Syrian state media. “The answer is no”, Assad said Saturday. Members of the visiting delegation expressed their concerns that the terror attacks in Paris proved there is no state which could be safe from terrorism, and therefore regional and global efforts should be unified to combat terrorism, SANA reported.

Diplomats meeting in Vienna agreed Saturday on a timeline for a political transition in Syria that is aimed at ending the country’s civil war. A few are calling for the U.S.to “roll on Raqqa”, the caliphate’s capital. “Clearly he’s part of the problem, but he may also be part of the solution”. Russian Federation could be more helpful, but they won’t be as long as they see Assad as their only option.

And Asaad Hanna, a spokesman for the Division 101 rebel group, said Vienna’s goals-including a ceasefire-were divorced from the reality of forces fighting both IS and Assad’s troops. The one responsible for the attacks in Paris… he is a criminal and not a refugee and not an asylum seeker. “We do not have a proper so-called opposition”, the diplomat said.

“It means, for the Government, I think they have got to talk to allies, assess how this changes things”. There is speculation circulating about Russian proposals for an 18-month constitutional reform process, followed by early elections, that makes no mention of Assad stepping down.

President Erdogan of Turkey has said we can not “accept a dictator who has led to the deaths of up to 350,000 people”.

The foreign ministers met ahead of a Group of 20 summit of world leaders starting Sunday in the Turkish coastal resort of Antalya, where the war across the border in Syria is likely to dominate the discussion. There is a lot of temptation, in the wake of the horror in Paris, to treat only the symptoms of instability in Syria. But the Assad regime is the disease, and the symptoms will not go away until Assad is gone.