Syrian President Bashar al-Assad no longer wants to "remain isolated in the face of the terrorist threat," one of the French lawmakers who met him in Damascus on a much-decried private trip said Friday.
The announcement comes as a domestic and exiled Syrian opposition bodies announced a common roadmap for the crisis in Syria following a series of meetings in Syria.
Senator Francois Zocchetto was one of several French lawmakers who traveled to the Syrian capital and met with high-ranking officials including Assad on Wednesday in a visit that drew an angry response from the French government, which cut diplomatic ties with Damascus in 2012.
"Bashar al-Assad is reserved, he does not easily confide in people," Zocchetto told Radio Classique. "He said he expected to no longer remain isolated in the face of the terrorist threat."