Hollande seeks grand coalition to fight IS

The French President is to meet Britain's Prime Minister for crucial talks on the military campaign against IS.

Hollande seeks grand coalition to fight ISHollande seeks grand coalition to fight IS

Hollande seeks grand coalition to fight IS

Francois Hollande wants a grand coalition to tackle IS.

He's heading to Washington next to meet US President Barack Obama, then to Moscow for talks with his Russian counterpart.

Francois Hollande has declared his country is at war.

Following the Paris attacks, France intensified its airstrikes against IS targets in Syria.

Last week, the Charles de Gaulle -- the country's only aircraft carrier -- left the south of France and set sail for the eastern Mediterranean.

It's now arrived and is expected to launch bombing raids in the coming hours.

The Paris attacks not only changed France, they're reshaping politics in the UK with the British parliament considering strikes against IS in Syria, as the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne explains.

"The Prime Minister will seek support across parliament for strikes against that terrorist organisation in Syria. Frankly, Britain has never been a country that stands on the sidelines and relies on others to defend us."

At an airbase in the Middle East, British drones armed with hellfire missiles have been targetting IS in Iraq.

Even without parliamentary approval, Britain has conducted at least one airstrike inside Syria, targeting its own citizen, Reeyad Khan.

Britain's defence secretary, Michael Falon, won't say if there are other individuals on a hit list.

"There are groups there that are actively planning us harm and where the threat is very imminent and where they can be identified we'd be failing in our duty as a government if we didn't deal with it and we will."

Despite some countries taking unilateral action, the international alliance against IS is growing stronger.

That's been helped by the UN Security Council passing a resolution that's authorised what it calls "combat by all means" to defeat the group.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon says extremists from IS - also known as ISIL and Daesh -- need to be defeated in the name of humanity.

"We need to be united. We need to show global solidarity to address this common enemy - ISIL, Daesh."

Despite the attacks on Paris, US President Barack Obama is determined to stick to his strategy against IS in defiance of critics who've called for a major change.

Speaking at the end of the ASEAN summit in Malaysia, Mr Obama once again reiterated his determination to destroy IS.

"We will cut off their financing, we will hunt down their leadership, we will dismantle their networks and their supply lines and we will ultimately destroy them. Even as we are in the process of doing that, we want to make sure that we don't lose our own values and our own principles."

 

 


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Hollande seeks grand coalition to fight IS | SBS News