French President François Hollande said Tuesday that he was ready to take action against those responsible for the deaths of more than 1,300 people in an alleged chemical attack in Syria last week.
Hollande stated, "France is ready to punish those who took the vile decision to gas innocent people," and that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime likely had some part in the attack, France 24 reports.
According to The Associated Press, Hollande told President Barack Obama that if the United States decided to proceed with a military strike against Syria, France, like Britain, would support the action. Hollande, like his U.S. and British counterparts, will only make the decision to take military action if the United Nations (UN) investigation provides evidence that the Syrian government used chemical weapons. This process could take a couple of days, but a senior diplomat has stated that there could be a strike against Syria before September 5.
In the meantime, Hollande has increased the French military’s support to the main Syria opposition group, the National Syrian Coalition.
Photo courtesy of Matthieu Riegler, Wikimedia Commons