Macron: Talk to Assad now, he will answer for crimes later

PARIS – French President Emmanuel Macron thinks the Islamic State group will be defeated in Syria by the middle or end of February and that Syrian President Bashar Assad can't be ignored in the aftermath of a military victory but must one day answer for his crimes, according to a television interview that aired Sunday.

Macron noted in a wide-ranging interview with TV station France 2 that Iraqi authorities declared the Islamic State group defeated this month and said, "I think by mid-end February we will have won in Syria. Bashar Assad will be there."

Under those circumstances, "We have to talk to everybody, we have to talk to Bashar Al-Assad and his representatives," the French leader said, adding: "Afterward, he must answer for his crimes before his people, before international justice."