France invokes treaty to call allies to arms
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FRANCE yesterday made an unprecedented demand that its European Union allies support its military action against the Islamic State group and launched new airstrikes on the militants’ stronghold in Syria.
The French government invoked a never-before-used article of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty obliging members of the 28-nation bloc to give “aid and assistance by all the means in their power” to a member country that is “the victim of armed aggression on its territory.”
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for attacks on Friday in Paris, in which at least 129 people were killed and more than 350 were wounded.
French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said EU partners could help “either by taking part in France’s operations in Syria or Iraq, or by easing the load or providing support for France in other operations.”
Arriving for talks in Brussels with his EU counterparts, Greek Defense Minister Panagiotis Kammenos told reporters that the Paris attacks were a game-changer for the bloc.
French military spokesman Colonel Gilles Jaron said the latest airstrikes in the Islamic State group’s de-facto capital in the Syrian city of Raqqa destroyed a command post and training camp.
The Paris attacks have galvanized determination to confront the militants. President Francois Hollande has vowed to forge a united coalition capable of defeating the jihadists at home and abroad.
Noting that victims of the attacks came from at least 19 nations, Hollande said the international community, led by the United States and Russia, must overcome their deep-seated divisions over Syria to destroy IS on its home turf.
“(Syria is) the biggest factory of terrorism the world has ever known and the international community is still too divided and too incoherent” in its response, he said, adding that the “acts of war” in Paris were decided upon and planned in Syria.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry said a cease-fire between Syria’s government and the opposition — which would allow nations supporting Syria’s various factions to focus more on IS — could be just weeks away. He described it as potentially a “gigantic step.”
Kerry flew to France as a gesture of solidarity and met Hollande and Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius yesterday.
Standing with Hollande at the Elysee Palace, Kerry said the carnage in Paris, along with recent attacks in Egypt, Lebanon and Turkey, made it clear that more pressure must be brought to bear on IS extremists.
Authorities have yet to announce the capture of anyone suspected of direct involvement in the slaughter in Paris, though police have used emergency powers to conduct almost 300 searches that have netted 127 arrests and 31 weapons.
Seven of the attackers died on Friday, but Iraqi intelligence officials said its sources indicated 19 people participated and five others provided logistical support.
As an international police manhunt continued for fugitive Salah Abdeslam, German police said three people in the case were arrested yesterday by a SWAT team near the city of Aachen, close to the border with Belgium. They were not Germans, police spokesman Werner Schneider said.
Meanwhile, another car with Belgian license plates and a shattered front passenger window found yesterday in northern Paris could be linked to the attacks, officials said. It was the third vehicle identified as having possible links to the investigation.
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