France sees Syria opportunity through closer dialogue with Russia
29 Jun 2017 5:57 PM GMT
France said on Thursday it saw a chance to break the stalemate in Syria's war as Russia now seemed to accept there could be no military solution and preconditions set by some opponents of President Bashar al-Assad had been dropped.
The election of President Emmanuel Macron has provided an opening for Paris to re-examine its Syria policy, with the view that the previous government's stance that Assad must step down was too intransigent and an obstacle to peacemaking.
Macron last week reversed France's stance on the future of Assad, saying he saw no legitimate successor at this time and the priority was to prevent Syria becoming a failed state. The United States has also backed away this year from an insistence on Assad's departure to allow a political solution.
Assad has held on with Russian and Iranian military support in a six-year war with rebels and Islamist militants that has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions.
New Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has been pushing for closer dialogue with Moscow as Paris also seeks to use the lack of clear U.S. policy on Syria to give itself a greater role.
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