- France Calls for Political Transition in Syria with no (Assad) in Power

- Agencies (IRW) - French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian says regime leader (Assad) cannot be the solution" to Syria's six-year-old conflict.

"We cannot build peace with Assad," "He cannot be the solution," Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on France's RTL radio.

"The solution is to establish... a timeline for political transition that can lead to a new constitution and elections, and this transition cannot happen with (Assad)."

Although Le Drian said on Friday that #ISIS "will be defeated in Syria," leaving the country with a "single conflict, that of the civil war" pitting an opposition against the Syrian regime.

French President Emmanuel Macron has said earlier that the fight against Daesh is a priority for France, which has endured a string of terror attacks that have killed more than 230 people since 2015. 

On Friday, Macron said he hoped to organize an international conference early next year in Beirut on facilitating the return of Syrian refugees, saying this was crucial for "stabilizing #Syria and the entire region."