Hollande: French Spy Drones to Fly over ISIS in Syria

Hollande: French Spy Drones to Fly over ISIS in Syria
Mon Sep 7, 2015 18:46:22

French President Francois Hollande has announced that his country is going to send drones over Syria allegedly to spy on Daesh Takfiris, claiming that the terrorist group plans to attack the country.

"We have proof that attacks have been planned from Syria against several countries, notably France," Hollande said on Monday.

"I have asked the defense minister that from tomorrow reconnaissance flights begin over Syria” to know what developments are going on in areas occupied by Daesh, he said.

Hollande ruled out any ground intervention in the country, saying it was up to the Syrians themselves, and regional states to do the work on the ground.

He said deploying French troops on the ground would be both unrealistic and an insignificant move in resolving the conflict.

The French leader, however, claimed that his country is committed to finding a political solution to the Syrian crisis.

France, until now, has only taken part in air strikes against Daesh positions in Iraq, saying it feared attacks against the group in Syria could strengthen Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Hollande said the removal of President Assad from power is essential to any political solution in Syria.

He also reiterated that the only solution to the crisis in Syria was through a political transition that would see Assad leave power "at some point or another."

"The solution cannot go through keeping Assad at the helm of Syria. A solution must be found with the regime, the state, but in the end Assad must go."

The comments come after Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov last week described as “unrealistic and illogical” demands for the resignation of Assad. “If we remove from the equation the entirely unrealistic and counterproductive demand of the resignation of Assad as a precondition for the fight against terrorism... we may work effectively,” Lavrov said.

On Saturday, the website of French daily Le Monde quoted an anonymous “high-level source” as saying that the French government is planning to join the so-called anti-Daesh international coalition with an alleged aim to attack Takfiri militants in Syria.

Syria has been facing foreign-backed militancy – including by Daesh terrorists – since 2011. Some 240,000 people; Press TV reported.

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