French FM: Syria must not be forced to choose between Assad, extremists

War-torn Syria must not be forced to choose between the regime of Bashar Al-Assad or rule under Islamist extremists thus the international community must provide support for "the third force" of so-called moderate rebels fighting to oust Al-Assad, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Monday. Speaking from the United Nations in New York, the Foreign Minister told "BFM" television that France could not be in agreement with Al-Assad because of his brutal behaviour since the conflict began in March 2011. "On one side, you have Bashar Al-Assad who is undeniably a dictator whose behaviour is such that we have more than 100,000 dead. That is the regime of Bashar Al-Assad, with which we cannot be in agreement," he said. "On the extremes, on the other side you have a certain number of terrorist movements - Al-Qaeda and others," he remarked. "We, along with the Syrian population, we don't want one or the other. We can't say that Syria has only the choice of a dictator, on one side, and terrorists on the other," France's Chief Diplomat continued. "This is the reason we are supporting the moderate opposition, the (Syrian) National Coalition and we want a political agreement," he noted. He said that talks for this political solution could include, on one side, "members of the regime, not Bashar Al-Assad, and the moderate opposition, on the other." He said the Syrian conflict could not be seen as two "extremist forces" facing off against each other in the form of the regime and the Islamist extremists. There is "a third force, moderate, which merits encouragement and that is what France is seeking to undertake" while discussing also with the other members of the UN Security Council, Fabius indicated.