Skip to main content

Hollande outlines fightback against IS after attacks

The French president plans to extend a state of emergency to last three months after Paris attacks by the Islamic State group
French President Francois Hollande arrives for a speech at a gathering of Parliament in Versailles (AFP)

President Francois Hollande unveiled France's riposte to Islamic State on Monday after its massacres in Paris, vowing tough new anti-terror measures and intensified bombing of Syria in a historic speech to parliament.

Describing the coordinated attacks that killed 129 people as "acts of war," Hollande urged a global fightback to crush IS and said he would hold talks with his US and Russian counterparts on a new offensive.

Friday's "acts of war... were decided and planned in Syria, prepared and organised in Belgium (and) perpetrated on our soil with French complicity," Hollande told an extraordinary meeting of both houses of parliament in Versailles.

"The need to destroy Daesh (IS) ... concerns the entire international community," he told lawmakers, who burst into an emotional rendition of the La Marseillaise national anthem after his speech - only the second time in more than 150 years a French president has addressed a joint session of parliament.

On the domestic front, Hollande called for an extension of the state of emergency by three months and announced 8,500 new police and judicial jobs to help counter terrorism.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin, speaking at a G20 conference in Turkey, said the attacks proved the need for an international anti-terror coalition.

"I spoke about this at the United Nations... and the tragic events that followed have confirmed that we were right," he said.

US President Barack Obama, also in Turkey, said a new deal had been agreed with France to speed up intelligence sharing.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls steeled the nation for more bloodshed, telling RTL radio that more operations "are still being prepared, not only against France but other European countries too."

New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch

Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters

Middle East Eye delivers independent and unrivalled coverage and analysis of the Middle East, North Africa and beyond. To learn more about republishing this content and the associated fees, please fill out this form. More about MEE can be found here.