By Hajer M'tiri and Bilal Muftuoglu
PARIS
A French journalist held captive by Daesh has told The Anadolu Agency that the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must take responsibility for the creation of the militant group.
Nicolas Henin, who was held captive between June 2013 and April 2014 along with fellow Western hostages James Foley, Steven Sotloff, Alan Henning, and David Haines - who were later killed by Daesh - criticized people calling for a deal to be reached with Assad.
He said: "A dictatorship can never be a protection against radicalism - in fact, it's the dictatorship that produces extremism and terrorism.
"Daesh is a creation of Bashar al-Assad's regime, which started it by releasing extremist salafist prisoners."
Henin, the author of the book; Jihad Academy: Our Errors Against the Islamic State, said the Syrian army had never launched a serious operation against Daesh and verse versa.
'Cultural vacuum'
He said that Western nations had committed an error in identifying Daesh as their main enemy "knowing that the Syrian regime had killed more than 200,000 people".
"It's a total disregard of the victims," he said.
Henin also criticized the policy of several Western leaders including U.S President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande, saying they gave speeches about supporting the Syrian people but had failed to take "concrete" action.
"You can do what you want, there will never be a Western intervention against you - that's their message to al-Assad," he said.
He also criticized people recruited by Daesh to fight in Syria and Iraq, saying they had "a cultural and conceptual vacuum in their heads".
'Spectacular enemies'
Henin went on: "Daesh is composed of very bad Muslims ... They just try to prove themselves ... they are radicalized and just looking for an adventure.
" Their fight originally has nothing to do with Islam - we are facing a process of radicalization without Islam."
The French journalist also pointed that the insistence of the international media in focusing on acts committed by Daesh was related to "their love of spectacular enemies and their very scripted acts".
He said: "In western countries, there is a very important part of people who just fantasize about Islam.
"Go to a bookstore in Paris and you'll see a whole section devoted to Islam and terrorism, both mixed, usually presenting a frightening vision of Islam ... this is another error."
'Jihad a noble concept'
Henin said such a frightening vision of Muslims only served the recruiters of Daesh, who want "Muslims in western countries, France in particular, not to feel comfortable in those countries, they want them to feel rejected", saying such an outcome was used by "both extremist fractions in the West and Daesh".
"They are two sides of the same coin," he said.
The journalist also said Islamic concept of Jihad was misused and misunderstood, often deliberately.
He said: "The term Jihad is considered equal to terrorism, this needs to change.
"Jihad is practically the sixth pillar of Islam, it is a very noble concept."
"Do not let the terrorists keep the monopoly of word Jihad and impose their wrong interpretation," Henin said.
He called on Muslims to take the initiative, adding: "Muslims must reclaim the word Jihad."
