PARIS, (ST)- German Chancellor Angela Merkel has reiterated the importance of attaining political solution to the crisis in Syria and asserted, at the same time, the need to fight ISIL by military means.
The German News Agency cited Merkel as saying ahead of a working dinner with the French President Francois Hollande in Paris on Wednesday that “terrorism is our common enemy. “It is our common job to fight it. ISIL can’t be beaten by words, so we have to fight it using military means.”
Earlier, in a statement at the German Parliament yesterday, Merkel said the solution to the crisis in Syria should be political based on dialogue among all Syrian sides. She pointed out that political settlement would push the process of fighting terrorism forward.
On the other hand, Merkel said that the downing of the Russian SU-24 fighter jet by Turkey in Syria hopefully wouldn’t affect the process of fighting ISIL terrorist organization, calling on Europe to move immediately and counter ISIL terror.
Hamda Mustafa