Assad push for normalisation finds a backdoor in France
The pariah regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, ostracised for its bloody repression of opponents in a civil war estimated to have caused the deaths of more than 300,000 civilians, was last weekend re-admitted, with the encouragement of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, to the Arab League. While the French government, like those of other Western countries, insists there will be no normalisation of its relations with the Assad regime, there are some in France’s economic circles who are openly keen to resume business dealings with Damascus. Elie Guckert reports.
ItIt was on March 15th this year, the date marking the 12th anniversary of the early pro-democracy demonstrations in Syria which would, following Bashar al-Assad’s ruthless crackdown on the protests, become a bloody civil war, that Syrian businessman Musan Nahas attended a Franco-Arab economic summit in Paris.
