Syrian President Assad will join fight if France changes policy

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Syria's Assad says no to intelligence sharing with France unless France stops backing rebels opposed to the Assad regime.

(REUTERS) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says he would gladly help France in the fight against Islamic State (IS), if France stops backing rebels against his regime.

Over the weekend Assad told a French magazine he'd be part of it, but needs to see a change in French policy in Syria first.

"We cannot talk about intelligence cooperation before having political cooperation," said Mr Assad. "You cannot talk about intelligence cooperation to fight terrorism while French policies are supporting terrorism. This is what I meant by 'serious'."

As Paris slowly recovers from Friday's devastating attacks, the French government is looking for international cooperation against IS after Friday's devastating attacks...but it still not clear just what role Mr Assad could play in that strategy.

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