Konflikten i Syrien

PRESIDENT MACRON: (In English.) And I do believe that both of us have a direct relationship with Russia. President Trump had more than two hours meeting with President Putin during this past G20. So that's -- I had two very long meetings with President Putin, the very first one in Versailles and the second one during the G20. And this relationship is very important. We have a lot of disagreements. We have a lot of discrepancies, obviously, with Russia. But in the current environment, especially in the Middle East, it's a necessity to work together, to work together, to exchange information, to share disagreements, and to try to build solutions.

So that’s my relationship with Russia. And we don’t have, obviously, the same relationship as the one with the U.S. But that’s a longstanding relationship with Russia as well, and I think it’s important that both of us have direct discussion and contact with President Putin.

Next, your question regarding Bashar al-Assad, which is an important one. Let me put it simply: Indeed, we now have a new approach of Syria because we want some results and we want to be closely working together with our partners, including the United States of America. We have one main goal, which is to eradicate terrorism. No matter who they are, we want to build an inclusive and sustainable political solution. Against that background, I do not require Assad’s departure. This is no longer a prerequisite for France to work on that, because I can only tell you that, for seven years, we did not have an embassy in Damascus, and still we have no solution.

Next, we also have a common red line, together with President Trump. He intervened before I was elected, and I said it to President Putin after my election: No use whatsoever of chemical weapons. Any use will lead to reaction -- an attack against a reaction regarding the storage places.

Next, we also want humanitarian corridors. Also, we want to build a sustainable political stability for Syria. This is our roadmap. In order to stick to it, we need diplomatic initiative beyond our military actions. This is what we’ve been agreeing upon, because we want to take an initiative with the members of the Security Council and a number of countries involved in the process. Of course, there will be representatives of Assad that will enable us to put in place the roadmap for after the war, but there will also be representatives of the opposition and people with different backgrounds, and we will talk to all of them against that background.

On Thursday, the largest coalition of Islamist groups in southern Syria said they refused to participate in a US-Russian brokered cessation of hostilities stretching across Quneitra, Daraa and western Sweida.

After releasing a long statement on the matter, the ‘Death over Humiliation’ operations room that was formed in February to unite Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) and Free Syrian Army (FSA) factions under one fighting force, stated it would not adhere to the ceasefire, rendering it useless

Death Is Better Than Humiliation
This is our principle that will not leave

/.../Speaking to Duma deputies ahead of the vote, Chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee for Foreign Affairs Leonid Slutsky said, “Given the current situation with terrorist groups at the Syrian territory we, unfortunately, realise that we’re there to stay long and we are to remain on the front line resisting the international terrorism at the Syrian territory and preventing terrorist expansion to the Russian and European territories.”