France seeks EU security aid, launches new strikes
Published 9:36 am Tuesday, November 17, 2015
PARIS — France made an unprecedented demand Tuesday 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 Friday in Paris that killed at least 129 people and left over 350 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.
“This is Sept. 11 for Europe,” he said.
French military spokesman Col. 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 international determination to confront the militants. President Francois Hollande has vowed to forge a united coalition capable of defeating the jihadists at home and abroad. NATO allies were sharing intelligence and working closely with France, the alliance’s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said.
Authorities have yet to announce the capture of anyone suspected of direct involvement in the slaughter on Friday, though police have used emergency powers to conduct almost 300 searches that have netted 127 arrests and 31 weapons.
Seven of the Paris attackers died Friday — six after detonating suicide belts and a seventh from police gunfire — but Iraqi intelligence officials told The Associated Press that its sources indicated 19 had participated in the Paris attacks and five others had provided hands-on logistical support.
As an international police manhunt continued for fugitive Salah Abdeslam, German police said three people were arrested Tuesday in the case by a SWAT team near the western city of Aachen, close to the border with Belgium.