Fabius: Assad will fall 'sooner or later'

Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime is bound to topple because of its "abominable behavior", France's foreign minister said Thursday as fighting raged in the cities of Damascus and Aleppo. "We are continuing our work to end the fighting and for an alternative solution bringing together the Syrian opposition and other actors," Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said during a visit to Warsaw. "I'm confident that sooner or later, Bashar will fall," he said at a press conference with his Polish counterpart Radoslaw Sikorski, describing the actions of the regime as "abominable behavior". "This murderer Bashar Assad is continuing his sad business. He kills, he kills and it's all he knows how to do while the Syrian people want to build a peaceful Syria." "All the nations of the world and particularly the members of the U.N. Security Council must understand their responsibility," he added, noting that China and Russia had blocked three U.N. resolutions on the conflict that activists say has now claimed over 19,000 lives. On his first visit to Poland since the May election of Socialist President Francois Hollande, Fabius hailed "a new phase in relations" between Paris and Warsaw. He said Hollande planned to visit Poland although no date has been fixed.