Bashar Al-Assad is facing a unique dilemma in being excluded from a unified world front as his country battles Islamic State attacks, shortly after he himself was a target of the West.

France has denounced any efforts by the Syrian president to join the fight, calling him a "jihadist ally," Al-Jazeera reports. French President Francois Hollande said Assad is an ally of IS.

And while Syrian relations with the U.S. remain tense, there are others views of the Syrian president following a mass genocide in his country. After a civil war broke out in his country, the Assad administration was accused of using nerve gas on opposition forces and being responsible for millions of displacements and at least 191,000 deaths, according to The Independent. As a result, he received less-than-favorable treatment by western powers and has been blacklisted since.

A deal brokered with the aid of Russia in September 2013 resulted in international intervention in the form of destruction of the chemical weapons in the country. But one year later, Assad is unable to join a fight to remove the group of militants ravaging his country and has, instead, been labeled as the cause for the uprising in the Islamic State, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The Islamic State traces its roots to the very same Syrian civil war and was able to grow from a decision by Assad to "go easy on" the group. Assad, reportedly, hoped to have the IS eliminate the group supported by the West -- the Free Syrian Army.

"It's a strategy to eliminate the FSA and have the two main players face each other in Syria: Assad and the Islamic State,"  Izzat Shahbandar, an Assad ally and former Iraqi lawmaker, told WSJ.

As a result, the world will have to choose between the regime or the radical militants.

"There is no choice to be made between two barbarisms," Hollande told Al Jazeera. "Assad cannot be a partner in the fight against terrorism, he is the de facto ally of jihadists."

But other media report a softer view on Assad.

La Tercera reported that the atrocities by Assad pale in comparison to the actions of the Islamic State. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem recently said that Syria is ready to cooperate and coordinate with western powers to face the IS, La Tercera reports.

While no decision has been issued by the U.S., it appears to be an unavoidable situation.

Recently, Britain raised its terrorist threat level to severe, following reports that it has a large number of participants in IS.

Ryan Crocker, former American ambassador to Syria, told La Tercera that IS poses a much larger threat to U.S. security.