A recent survey has revealed that over two thirds of the French want the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to remain in power.

Ahlul Bayt News Agency - A recent survey has revealed that over two thirds of the French want the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to remain in power.



According to the poll carried out by the French newspaper Le Figaro on Thursday, with a sampling of 21,314 French adults, 72 percent of the respondents answered No to the survey question “Should world powers demand Bashar Assad to leave?” while the remaining 28 percent responded Yes to the question.



The survey was conducted ahead of a fresh round of international talks, which started in the Austrian capital Vienna on Friday and is aimed at resolving the ongoing crisis in Syria. This is the third conference of its kind that has tried to end the years-long deadly crisis in the Middle Eastern country.



In a joint statement at the end of the latest round of the talks, the participants said “substantial differences remain” but it was “imperative to accelerate all diplomatic efforts to end the war.”



The United States has repeatedly demanded that Assad step down, echoing Syria’s foreign-sponsored opposition figures’ stance towards the government in Damascus.



In a Saturday interview with Spanish newspapers, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon reiterated that only Syrian people must be allowed to decide about the future of their incumbent president.



“The future of Assad must be decided by the Syrian people,” Ban stated.



Since the beginning of the foreign-backed crisis in Syria in March 2011, an assortment of militant groups, including the Daesh Takfiri terrorists and the US-backed Free Syrian Army, have been formed in the country with the ultimate goal of overthrowing the Syrian government.



More than 250,000 people have been killed so far in Syria due to the violence perpetrated by terrorists.









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