French President Emmanuel Macron has voiced support for opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, vowing more efforts to press through a diplomatic end of years-long civil war in Syria, according to a press release issued by Macron's office on Wednesday.
Macron confirmed to Riad Hijab, Syria's opposition chief coordinator, "France's support for the Syrian opposition represented by the High Negotiation Committee (HNC) in the inter-Syrian talks held under the aegis of the United Nations."
"The president assured Mr. Hijab of his will to engage fully and personally to achieve an inclusive political solution in the Geneva framework," the Elysee said.
Macron and Hijab also reiterated the necessity "to preserve Syria's unity and the need to fight against ...terrorist groups," it added.
Talks with Saudi Arabia-based HNC chief is widely seen as a move to ease concerns of Syrian opposition following Macron's remarks saying that he saw no legitimate successor to al-Assad.
On June 21, French president told eight European newspapers in an interview "I have not stated that Bashar al-Assad's departure is a pre-condition for everything because nobody has shown me a legitimate successor."

Source: xinhua