In the peaceful gardens of academia, far from the Syrian battlefield, I hear increasingly an extraordinary formula for bringing a halt to the wreckage that has wreaked on Syria: keep Bashar al-Assad in power and, if need be, collaborate with the Russians to bring about this end.
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Iran had earlier said it would take part, having not been invited to similar meetings in 2012 and 2014 in Geneva.
Poisson paid the visit to Syria alongside two other French lawmakers.
Their trip comes despite fierce criticism in France of a similar visit by lawmakers to Syria in February.
French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were later Tuesday to hold talks on the Syrian conflict.
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun (L), meeting with French right-wing Les Républicains party’s MP and chairman of the Christian Democratic (PCD) party, Jean-Frederic Poisson (C-R), on October 27, 2015, in the capital Damascus.
The Syrian parliament’s four-year term is due to expire in May 2016 while Assad’s current seven-year presidential term runs until 2021.
“A new government will be formed”, he said.
Fabius said the meeting in Paris would not include Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. As the Assad regime considers all opposition forces in the country to be “terrorists”, not just the Islamic State, many interpreted this statement as a rejection of elections until all opposition is defeated, guaranteeing reelection for Assad.
They talked about prospects for a political resolution between Syrian authorities and the opposition, supported by the global community.
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Syria has been gripped by Islamist militancy since March 2011.
