France: Assad’s Troops Can Fight ISIS, But Only Without Assad

FM Insists Syrian President Must Be Removed First

Several years into the Syrian Civil War, in which the Syrian military has been fighting almost non-stop against ISIS, the French Foreign Ministry today announced that the Syrian military “could be used” to fight ISIS, but only if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is first removed from office.

Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius insisting that the eventual defeat of ISIS would require ground troops, and sought to reassure people that the French military wouldn’t be sending its own ground troops, suggesting that the Syrian military could substitute for that.

Still, France and the rest of the US-led coalition are demanding the unconditional ouster of Assad, and suggesting that his military is the key to victory by itself would be tantamount to admitting that he’s going to remain in a post-war scenario.

But adding a conditional as it was done seems downright silly, as the Syrian military is already fighting ISIS, already has foreign air support from Russia, and doesn’t seem to be in line to gain all that much from a French imprimatur.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.