France has alleged that Russian claims to be fighting the Islamic State in Syria are merely for show and have not been backed up by any military operations, reports The Guardian.
In remarks on the sidelines of the UN general assembly, the French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, also raised the possibility of creating a handful of “safe zones” within Syria where displaced people could be protected both from barrel bombs dropped by the Assad regime and from attacks from Isis and other extremist groups.
Fabius was speaking before the start of a summit on fighting Isis and violent extremism chaired by Barack Obama. The summit is being attended by Iraq and other Arab states, but not Russia or Iran – a reflection of the continuing and deep rifts over Syria and in particular over the fate of Bashar al-Assad as part of a possible peace deal.
On Monday, Vladimir Putin had insisted that Assad had to be supported as his forces were “valiantly” fighting Isis on the ground. Russia has portrayed its deployment of warplanes and troops to western Syria as a reflection of its commitment to confront Isis head on. On Tuesday Fabius sought to debunk both claims.
“The fight against Daesh [the Arabic acronym for Isis] is an absolute necessity but it must not be just a fight only through the media. It must be a real one,” he said. “And when I’m looking at who is really committed in the fight of Daesh … as far as Bashar al-Assad is concerned, it’s still recent and it’s still modest. So as far as our Russian partners are concerned, up to now they didn’t yet [do anything] against Daesh.”
By contrast, Fabius said: “We the French this week struck against a Daesh camp. We have to judge realities and not mass media.”