French Policy toward the Syrian crisis and its reflections upon France interests in the Middle East

Abstract

Since the beginning of the protests in Syria the French government criticizes bitterly the policy of president Bashar al-Assad.  Though relation between both countries was very good before the Syrian crisis.  As France plays a very important role by encouraging the government to establish the Syrian Opposition National Council led by Borhan Galeon and it is the first western country to acknowledge it as a representative for the Syrian opposition. In the midst  of the criticisms  from the French government to the Syrian government,  the French minister of foreign affairs, Alain Juppe, announced after two months of the beginning of the protests that the Syrian government lost its legitimacy. However, French government was disappointed by the opposition split as it could not unify its courses in spite of the conferences held . In spite of all fiery statements of French officials  against the Syrian government, these statements were backed off  with the oncoming of presidential  elections on may of 2012. Fearing of being immersed in the crisis which may affect negatively the popularity of Sarkozy . When François Hollande became the president of France , France kept on supporting Syrian opposition. But, French attitude became more severe against Syrian government by accusing it using chemical weapon in Ghota region on 21/august/ 2013.  Hollande called for the necessity of using the military forces to topple the Regime.  France will be one of the participant countries. Still, there was a retreating attitude for France due to the  America-Russian agreement on destroying the chemical weapons. The future of the French interests whether in Syria or in the Middle East will be at risk if the violence continues, especially in Lebanon and Syria as they are France gate into the region .