France Urges United Front with US, Russia to Destroy IS Group

French President Francois Hollande (L, top) and French MPs sing `La Marseillaise`, the French national anthem, at a special session of the two houses of Parliament at the Palace of Versailles,near Paris, Nov.16, 2015. Photo EPA/BGNES

French President Francois Hollande called on Monday for a united front with the United States and Russia to crack down on the Islamic State group.

“I will call on both Obama and Putin to unite our efforts to seek a solution,” Hollande told a special session of the two houses of the French parliament three days after Friday’s multiple deadly attacks in Paris that killed at least 129 people and left injured more than 350.

“We need a union of all who can fight this terrorist army in a single coalition,” Hollande said. 

He also said that the European Union needs to introduce “coordinated and systematic controls” both at its external and internal borders.  

“If Europe does not control its borders, then it’s back to the national borders,” he said. “This would be the dismantling of the European Union.”

Hollande announced plans to propose legislation that would extend the state of emergency in France for three months.

He also called for changes to be made to the French constitution that would allow to strip dual citizens of their French citizenship if they were convicted on terrorism charges, and deny entry to dual nationals considered to constitute terrorism risk.

"Friday's acts of war were decided and planned in Syria. They were organized in Belgium and committed on our land.”

“France is at war”, Hollande said at the start of his emotional speech, in which he vowed to defeat the Islamic State group.

French airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria will intensify, with aircraft Charles de Gaulle set to leave for the eastern Mediterranean in a move that will triple France’s air force capacity in the region, the French President said.

France will create 5,000 new police jobs in the next two years and will make no job cuts among its military until 2019 to maintain security at an adequate level, said Hollande.

The members of parliament sang La Marseillaise, the French national anthem, at the end of Hollande’s speech.

 

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