The French centre-right’s presidential candidate Francois Fillon has declared that Europe is not obliged to follow rules imposed by the United States, stressing that “the call for President Bashar Al-Assad’s departure from power as a precondition has been a heavy mistake”.
He was quoted by the Beirut-based al-Mayadeen television channel as saying that Russia’s support for the Syrian army’s war on terrorism in Syria has helped repel ISIS advance towards in Damascus.
“The call for the departure of President Bashar Al-Assad from power as a precondition was a heavy mistake and made Europe outside the game in Syria,” Fillon told the French ‘Le Monde’ newspaper and the German ‘Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung’ newspaper.
He called for re-establishing relations with Russia through settling the Ukrainian cause and creating new economic partnership with Moscow.
France has been one of the countries that supported terrorist organizations operating in Syria by all means.
Basma Qaddour