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French press review 23 August 2013

The French front pages are all about Syria, in the wake of growing international calls for a UN probe into what French President François Hollande described as the “likely use of chemical weapons" in the conflict.

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The economic newspaper Les Echos regrets the inability of Western nations to deal with the use of poisonous gases against Ghuta, a rebel-held town south-west of the capital, Damascus. The opposition National Coalition claims that 1,300 people were killed in the attack and Aujourdhui en France goes wondering if this massacre will remain unpunished.

There is an element of urgency for the international community to find out the whole truth, according to the Communist Party's L’Humanité.

Le Monde says up to 30 countries are now piling pressure on the UN to launch an inquiry but it notes that the clamour is being stifled by deep divisions within the UN Security Council, with Russia and China objecting to any binding resolution opening the way for the use of force against their allies in Damascus.

Libération claims that while the use of chemical weapons in the attack has not been authentified, all clues point to Bashar al-Assad's government in Damascus. For the paper the horror is a direct consequence of the United Nations’ failure to deal with the conflict and the consequence of the impunity enjoyed by the Assad regime.

Le Figaro points to the "incoherence" of the West and its inability to chart a common efficient strategy against Assad as one of the causes of inaction by the international community on Syria.

According to the paper, the red line drawn by US President Barack Obama and adopted by the EU, has not just been crossed but drowned in blood. The fact that no measures are being taken to avoid the recurrence of another attack of this magnitude, the West must take some responsibility for the carnage being perpetrated in Damascus.

Le Figaro also takes up the changing dynamics on the ground in Syria where it reports about the start of an anti-Assad operation. The paper claims that opposition forces led by Jordanian, Israeli and American commandos have been progressing towards Damascus since mid-August. Le Figaro believes the offensive may explain why the Syrian president may have resorted to the use of chemical weapons against rebel positions

Le Figaro also examines the conditional release from detention of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, describing the decision a symbolic gesture which could fracture the coalition against deposed president Mohammed Morsi and remobilise his Muslim Brotherhood, which was weakened by the arrest of their top leaders.

The Egyptian military and the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood are taking the country back 60 years back, says Le Monde and, for the paper, the junta’s decision to exclude the Islamists from any institutional role leaves them facing violence as their sole means of action.

President Francois Hollande’s Socialist Party holds its annual summer school this weekend in La Rochelle. Libération profiles the political currents eager to vent their frustrations at the gathering as they face tense local council elections in 2014.

Le Figaro expects the workshop to be undermined by noisy confrontations on economic and social policy as well as a noisy dispute between the justice and interior ministers over recidivism and criminal reform and African immigration.

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