The French prime minister, Manuel Valls, said that Assad was “responsible for tens of thousands of deaths.” French prime minister slams Kerry's Assad comments

France’s Prime Minister Manuel Valls slammed Secretary of State John Kerry’s remarks Sunday that Washington will need to negotiate with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad “in the end.”

Valls told French television network Canal+, “There will not be a political solution, there will not be a solution for Syria as long as Bashar al-Assad stays, and John Kerry knows it.”


The French prime minister said that Assad was “responsible for tens of thousands of deaths” and that he regretted Kerry’s comments.

Kerry made the remarks during an interview Sunday with CBS News.

Later that day, a State Department spokeswoman sought to clarify the secretary’s comments, saying, “It has never been and would not be Assad who would negotiate — and the secretary was not saying that today.”

It has long been the Obama administration’s position that political talks involving members of the Assad regime are necessary to solve Syria’s conflict, which has killed more than 200,000 people — though its rhetoric and emphasis on supporting the anti-Assad rebels has shifted over time.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest clarified further on Monday, saying of Kerry: “He was referring to the fact that the Assad regime will have to be at the negotiations. … He did not envision a scenario where Assad himself would attend these negotiations.”

Assad himself, during an appearance on Syrian state television Monday, dismissed Kerry’s comments entirely.

“Declarations from outside do not concern us,” he said.