Smorgasbord: Fabius: "I think the end is approaching for Mr Bashar al-Assad"

[AFP] "... "We must do everything to avoid anything that could lead to a regional flare-up," Fabius said.

"I think the end is approaching for Mr Bashar al-Assad," he added....  "The best defence against extremism is the Syrian National Coalition," Fabius said, welcoming the move last week by Arab and Western states to recognise the National Coalition as the sole representative of Syrians..."

... helas, 

[Reuters] "... France says it is not ready to supply weapons to Syrian insurgents fighting to oust President Bashar Assad and would be studying the role of an Islamist rebel group branded a terrorist organisation by the United States.

Western powers and Arab nations have recognised Syria's new opposition coalition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people at talks in Morocco, according to a draft declaration. But feelings about arming the rebels are mixed."For now we have decided not to move on this," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said. "We shall see in the coming months."