"The situation in Iraq can never be stabilized completely without political transition in Syria. The Islamic State is mobile, it crosses borders. And the situation in Syria impacts the efficiency of the fight against the ISIL… [Syrian President] Bashar Assad will never have either the will, or the ability to fight Islamic State," Fabius said after an international conference on countering the ISIL.
The French foreign minister added that the international community should support Iraqi forces in their fight against the insurgency.
This week, participants of the US-led coalition against the ISIL are holding a meeting in Paris to discuss ways of countering the advance of the militants.
Led by the United States, more than 60 countries formed a coalition in 2014, conducting airstrikes on large territories controlled by ISIL in both Syria and Iraq.
While the international coalition has been carrying out airstrikes, Syrian and Iraqi government forces, as well as Kurdish militias, have been fighting the ISIL on the ground.
Syria is engulfed in a civil war, with government forces fighting the ISIL, as well as numerous other insurgent groups. Several rounds of reconciliation talks on the Syria conflict have been held in Geneva and Moscow but have so far failed to bring positive results.
