Dubai: Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir said on Thursday that to eliminate Daesh, Syrian Bashar Al Assad must be removed from power, Gulf News reported, October 22, 2015.
Al Jubeir also said that Al Assad was the magnet “that attracted foreign fighters from all over the world to fight on the side of Daesh against Al Assad’s regime,” he told Al Arabiya Al Hadath television channel in Vienna, after talks with Austria’s foreign minister.
“We discussed the situation in Syria and how to find a peaceful solution for the conflict that guarantees Syria’s future and leads to a transitional period that does not include Bashar Al Assad,” Al Jubeir said.
Al Jubeir’s comments supported the finding’s of a report issued on Thursday which said Russia’s increased involvement in Syria in recent weeks is likely to further strengthen Daesh, since there was a “clear indication” that Moscow is more interested in defending the Syrian regime than defeating Daesh.
“Already over the past week Daesh has made gains in areas of Aleppo governorate due to the targeting of rival opposition groups and this is likely to continue,” said Matthew Henman, head of the Terrorism and Insurgency Centre.
 “Civilian deaths in Russian air strikes also give Daesh a powerful propaganda tool.”
The report discovered a major increase in violence by Daesh saw over 1,000 attacks and nearly 3,000 deaths worldwide in the past three months, analysis firm IHS Jane’s said Thursday.
The figures show a 42-per cent jump in daily attacks by the terrorist group, averaging 11.8 per day from July to September, up from 8.3 per day between April and June.
The figures suggest that air strikes by the US-led coalition have had only a limited impact on the group.
The London-based analysis firm recorded 1,086 Daesh attacks, causing a total of 2,978 civilian and government fatalities – a huge 65.3 percent increase in the average daily killings by the group compared to the previous three months, and an 81 percent jump on one year earlier.