President Francois Hollande is studying the possibility of sending French warplanes to attack Isil in Syria, as George Osborne says "evil Assad regime and the Isil terrorists" must be dealt with at source
France was the first country to join the US-led coalition carrying out air strikes on Islamic State in Iraq, but had ruled out doing so in Syria, fearing that would benefit president Bashar al-Assad. Photograph: Alain Jocardalain/AFP/Getty Images
Paris: France is considering conducting air strikes on Islamic State in Syria, joining an international coalition led by the United States, Le Monde newspaper said on its website on Saturday, quoting an unnamed “high level source”.
Government officials declined to comment on the report, saying French president Francois Hollande would express his views on the matter at a news conference on Monday.
France was the first country to join the US-led coalition carrying out air strikes on Islamic State in Iraq, but had ruled out doing so in Syria, fearing that would benefit president Bashar al-Assad. It has supplied arms to what it considers moderate rebels fighting the Assad regime.
But Europe’s refugee crisis, largely caused by vast numbers of people fleeing the civil war in Syria, the failure to push back Islamic State and a rising presence of Russia in the region may prompt a change in policy, Le Monde reported, saying Hollande discussed the issue with his defence team at a meeting on Friday.
The French president on Thursday called for a "political solution" in Syria, saying:
"We must ensure that we can find a political solution in the fight against terrorism with the right methods and good cooperation."
France’s reported plans to extend its airstrikes come just a day after David Cameron, who has suggested that a military intervention is required to solve the migrant crisis currently engulfing Europe, cast doubt over his suggestions that he might extend British air strikes to Syria.
Speaking in Madrid on Friday, the Prime Minister said he will only proceed with airstrikes if there is “genuine consensus in the United Kingdom about it before going back to Parliament”.
With Mr Corbyn likely to instruct his MPs to vote against military action, it means deployment of troops could become impossible in the event of a Corbyn victory in next weekend’s Labour leadership race.
The Prime Minister is not technically required to hold a vote ahead of any military intervention, but has said repeatedly that he will.
Mr Cameron's previous coalition government was defeated in a parliamentary vote on taking military action in Syria in 2013. - Reuters
No comments:
Post a Comment