PARIS, Aug 25 (KUNA) -- French President Francois Hollande on Saturday paid tribute to the Syrian opposition movement and vowed to support the "Syrian revolution" on several fronts.
Speaking at City Hall here to commemorate the World War II liberation of Paris from Nazi occupation in August 1944, Hollande said his thoughts were with the Syrian people, seeking to free themselves from oppression.
"I am thinking at this instant of the Syrian people, oppressed by a regime which is only motivated by the fear of disappearing," Hollande said at the ceremony.
"This regime will disappear - which is a lesson we give to the world - because when freedom is on the move, nothing or nobody can stop it." Hollande met this week with a plethora of officials and figures involved in the Syrian issue, including the new UN-Arab League envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi, the president of the Syrian National Council (SNC), Abdelbasset Sayda, and the Amir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani.
Hollande also discussed Syria Thursday night in Germany with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and again addressed this question Saturday with the Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.
Diplomats said that Samaras had expressed concern about the humanitarian situation as refugees from Syria are now arriving in Greece and Cyprus.
There are an estimated 230,000 refugees already in Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq where they have fled from the fighting and more are pouring out each day.
"France has taken and will take needed initiatives to support the Syrian revolution, on the political level, on the diplomatic level, on the humanitarian level to help the uprising," the French President said Saturday.
France, which has the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council, is to host meeting in New York August 30 at ministerial level to debate, principally, the humanitarian aspects of the Syrian crisis. (end) jk.bs KUNA 252208 Aug 12NNNN