Doing a deal with the devil is not the way to defeat evil

French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy looks at the challenge posed by the Islamic State and asks if an alliance with Syria’s Assad is the only way to defeat them

FORGET principles and morality. Forget, or try to forget, the quarter-million deaths for which Bashar al-Assad is responsible, directly or indirectly, since choosing to respond with violence to a peaceful uprising of the Syrian people.

Set aside the fact that Assad’s forces have caused 10-15 times more civilian deaths thus far than the Islamic State, whose horrific execution videos have overshadowed the Syrian dictator’s invisible massacres.