The president of France, Emmanuel Macron, affirmed today (17.12.2017) that the defeat of the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) in Syria will take place “in the middle or end of February” and that then it will be necessary to negotiate with the Syrian president, Bashar al Asad, to “win the peace”.

“We just won the war in Iraq, together with the coalition, and the Iraqi prime minister announced the end of the war and victory over the ISF on December 9. By mid or late February we will have won the war in Syria.” said Macron in an interview broadcast today by the public television “France 2”.

The French president reiterated the change of approach of his country, which at the time of his redecessor, François Hollande, refused to talk to Al Asad. Macron indicated that the French priority is to “fight against IS” and that this meant respecting the Damascus regime.

When the war is over, he added, al-Assad will remain in power “protected” by Russia and Iran “who will also have won the war on the ground”, so he can not be denied the word.