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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 21 February 2017
French far-right chief calls Assad solution to Syria crisis

ANDREA ROSA her pro-Assad position in lah working to bolster him. extremism.” Pen was also to meet the
ELAINE GANLEY the past, but it took on ex- An official readout of the “The worst mistake would Christian Maronite patri-
Associated Press tra weight in the context meeting suggests that Hariri be the amalgam between arch.
BEIRUT (AP) — French far- of her high-profile foreign took umbrage at what is Islam and Muslims on one Like other French politi-
right presidential candi- visit. Her stance represents widely seen as Le Pen’s hand and terrorism on the cians, she spoke out in fa-
date Marine Le Pen tried a major divergence from stigmatization of Muslims, other hand.” vor of protecting the Chris-
to raise her international official French policy and who her followers claim Before meeting with the tian minority — but stressed
profile and press her pro- that of Hariri, who is allied are changing the Christian prime minister, Le Pen met this should be done by an-
Syria, pro-Christian stance with Saudi Arabia against face of France. with Aoun, saying they nihilating the enemy — the
with a visit to Lebanon on the Syrian leader. “Muslims are the first vic- agreed during the meet- Islamic State group.
Monday, holding her first In the fractious politics of tims” of terrorism, Hariri was ing that the two countries “The way to protect the
campaign meeting with a Lebanon, President Michel quoted as saying in the should be “pillars” in orga- Christian minority is to erad-
head of state. Aoun, whom Le Pen also summary of the meeting, nizing the fight against Is- icate those who have a
On the first day of her two- met, supports Assad and and moderate Muslims are lamic fundamentalism. vision of destroying all the
day visit, Le Pen, head of the Iranian-backed Hezbol- “the first bulwark against During her two-day visit, Le minorities.”q
the anti-immigration Na-
tional Front, called Syr-
ian President Bashar Assad
“the most reassuring solu-
tion for France” and said
the best way to protect
minority Christians is to
“eradicate” the Islamic
State group preying on
them — not turn them into
refugees.
Lebanon, a former French
protectorate, shares a
large border with Syria, and
has taken in some 1.2 mil-
lion Syrian refugees — the
equivalent of one-fourth
of its own population — in-
cluding Christians targeted
by IS.
The trip represents the first
major foray into foreign
policy for Le Pen, a leading
candidate in France’s April
23 and May 7 election. She
is hoping to burnish her
credentials as a defender
of Christians in the Middle
East, looking to win votes
of the thousands of French
citizens in Lebanon and
have an impact on the in-
ternational scene.
Le Pen has worked to
clean up the racist and
anti-Semitic image of her
party. She is running on an
anti-immigration and anti-
European Union platform;
critics say that is a cover
for anti-Islamic and anti-
foreigner views.
She said she told Lebanese
Prime Minister Saad Hariri
that there is “no viable
and workable solution” to
the Syrian civil war beyond
choosing between Assad
and IS.
“I clearly explained that
in the political picture the
least bad option is the po-
litically realistic. It appears
that Bashar al Assad is evi-
dently today the most reas-
suring solution for France.”
Le Pen has made known