Fabius: End is Approaching for Bashar Assad

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius condemned Sunday's air strikes on Palestinian refugee camps in Syria and said the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad was nearing its end.

"It's a scandalous attack," the foreign minister told French television, accusing Assad wanting to "inflame the situation".

Sunday's air strikes killed at least eight civilians at the Yarmuk camp in Damascus. They were the first against Palestinian refugee camps in Syria.

"We must do everything to avoid anything that could lead to a regional flare-up," Fabius said.

"I think the end is approaching for Mr. Bashar Assad," he added. "You have seen, even if it's controversial, even the Russians see it coming," Fabius told TV5 and Radio France Internationale.

Referring to the issue of Islamist extremists fighting in Syria against the Damascus regime, Fabius stressed that the "longer the war goes on, the greater the risks of extremism."

"The best defense against extremism is the Syrian National Coalition," Fabius said, welcoming the move last week by Arab and Western states to recognize the National Coalition as the sole representative of Syrians.