François Hollande pledges support for Iraqi army in fight against Islamic State
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Version 0 of 1. President François Hollande has announced that France will conduct air strikes on Islamic State militants in Iraq. France will join the US in providing support for the Iraqi army, in fighting jihadists who have taken over nearly half of the country. "I decided to respond to the request of the Iraqi authorities to offer aerial support," Hollande told reporters on Thursday. France has already conducted reconnaissance flights over Iraq that started Monday, when Paris hosted a major international conference on the crisis that saw some 30 countries and international organisations pledge to support Iraq "by any means necessary, including appropriate military assistance". It has also dispatched weapons to the Kurdish forces fighting IS, and Hollande praised them for making "the best use of" them when he visited Iraq late last week – the most high-profile leader to do so since jihadists spread across the country. But unlike the US, Hollande made clear that France would not intervene in Syria, where IS militants also control swathes of territory. He added: "We will not go further than that. There will be no ground troops and we will only intervene in Iraq." France's Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Sunday that around 930 French citizens or residents, including at least 60 women, were either actively engaged in jihad in Iraq and Syria or were planning to go. In response, France's lower house National Assembly approved an "anti-terrorism" bill which will usher in a travel ban on anyone suspected of planning to wage jihad abroad. |