PARIS (AP) — French President Francois Hollande expressed
readiness Friday to push ahead with plans to strike Syria for allegedly
using chemical weapons despite the British parliament’s rejection of
military action. Washington also was preparing for the possibility of a
strike against the Damascus regime within days.
“The chemical massacre of Damascus cannot and must not remain
unpunished,” Hollande said in an interview with the newspaper Le Monde,
published Friday, as U.N. experts in Damascus began what is expected to
be the last day of their probe into the alleged attack.
The French president reiterated that France wants a “proportional and
firm action.” When asked about the type of intervention, however, he
said “all options are on the table.”
Hollande suggested that action could even come ahead of Wednesday’s
extraordinary session of the French Parliament, called to discuss the
Syria situation; lawmakers’ approval is not needed for Hollande to order
military action.
“I will not take a decision before having all the elements that would
justify it,” he told Le Monde. However, noting that he had convened
parliament, he added: “And if I have (already) committed France, the
government will inform (lawmakers) of the means and objectives.”
The British parliament voted late Thursday against military action in
Syria, whittling down the core of the planned coalition to the United
States and France. Italy and Germany have said they won’t take part in
any military action.
The British ‘no’ vote raised questions about France’s participation —
and ratcheted up pressure on U.S. President Barack Obama, who is also
facing domestic skepticism about military intervention in Syria.
Amid the resistance, the U.S. administration shared intelligence with
lawmakers Thursday aimed at convincing them the Syrian government used
chemical weapons against its people and must be punished.
Obama appeared undeterred by the difficulties forming an
international coalition, and advisers said he would be willing to
retaliate against Syria on his own.
“The president of the United States is elected with the duty to
protect the national security interests in the United States of
America,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.
France has more intimate ties to Syria, having once ruled the
country; it also has warplanes and strategic interest in the region.
Paris has embraced the Syrian opposition and urged a firm response
against Assad over the purported Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack outside
Damascus. But Hollande appears to be facing increasing political and
public resistance against moving against Syria quickly.
Hollande said that France is among the few nations capable of
“inflicting a sanction by the appropriate means” and “it is ready.” But a
decision will be made in close coordination with allies, he added.
French military analysts say France’s most likely role would be from
the air, including use of Scalp cruise missiles that have a range of
about 500 kilometers (300 miles), fired from Mirage and Rafale fighter
jets. French fighters could likely fly directly from mainland France —
much as they did at the start of a military campaign against Islamic
radicals in Mali earlier this year — with support from refueling
aircraft. France also has six Rafale jets at Al Dhafra air base, near
Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates on the Persian Gulf, and 7
Mirage-2000 jets at an air base in Djibouti, on the Red Sea.
Hollande reiterated that any action is aimed at punishing the regime of Bashar Assad, not toppling him.
“I won’t talk of war but of a sanction for a monstrous violation of the human person. It will have a dissuasive value,” he said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned that military
strikes would lead to long-term destabilization of Syria and the region.
He has spoken against any use of force without U.N. Security Council
approval, which he said would be a “crude violation of international
law.” Russia has remained a strong ally of Syria throughout the civil
war, which has left more than 100,000 people dead.
In Damascus, three U.N. vehicles headed out for more on-site visits on Friday, after an early morning delay.
The U.N. said Thursday that the inspectors would wrap up their
investigation Friday and leave Syria for the Hague, Netherlands, the
following day. Some of the experts will travel to laboratories in Europe
to deliver the material they’ve collected this week during trips to the
Damascus suburbs purportedly hit by toxic gas.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy adviser expressed puzzlement Friday at why the U.N. team was leaving so soon.
“We don’t quite understand why the entire team had to be going back
to the Hague when there are many questions about a possible use of
chemical weapons in other areas in Syria,” said Yuri Ushakov.
The mandate of the U.N. team is to determine whether chemical agents
were used in the attack — not who was responsible. But the U.N. has
suggested that evidence collected by investigators — including
biological samples and interviews — might give an indication of who was
behind the attack.
Hollande said that a chemical attack is “an established fact … and
the question is to know who are the authors of this frightening act.”
But he reiterated what France has said for several days, that Paris has a
“range of indices which point to the responsibility of the regime.
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