France fires first airstrikes on extremists in Syria

Russia’s sudden military build-up this month in support of Assad and a refugee crisis that has spilled over from the region into Europe have lent new urgency to attempts to resolve the Syria conflict.

Mr Hollande, who along with other world leaders is in New York for the UN General Assembly, also stressed the importance of finding a political solution to Syria’s four-year civil war. He stated that as it resulted to actually co-ordinate forces against Islamic State militants it wasn’t nonetheless developing.

French President Francois Hollande announced earlier this month that France would began reconnaissance flights over Syria to gather information on ISIL positions.

Ahead of the United Nations gathering, US Secretary of State John Kerry met Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif on Saturday to discuss Syria.

But that strategy appeared in tatters after the Pentagon admitted the latest US-trained fighters to cross into Syria had given a quarter of their equipment to Al-Qaeda.

Hollande said more strikes “could take place in the coming weeks if necessary”.

The United States, Britain and some other allies in recent days have softened demands that Assad immediately leave power, raising the possibility that he could stay during a transition.

Divisions over the role of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad remained critical.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, however, told ARD television on Sunday that the formation of a transitional Syrian government should be kept separate from discussions on the future of Assad.

“We are just at the beginning of trying to understand what the Russians’ intentions are in Syria, in Iraq, and to try to see if there are mutually beneficial ways forward here”. French officials now believe that targeting Islamic State with airstrikes on its Syrian strongholds is key to preventing attacks in France.

Islamist militants carried out a number of attacks in France this year, including one on the Paris office of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in which 12 people died.

“The Russian escalation in Syria will create a flurry of diplomatic activity to find a political solution to the Syrian crisis and a fresh attempt to confront ISIS in Syria, but the conditions for success on both fronts are still absent”, said Paul Salem, vice president for policy and research at the Washington-based Middle East Institute.

France was ready to join air strikes on military installations in Syria in 2013 in response to a massive chemical weapon attack before US President Barack Obama turned against it after Assad agreed to abandon his chemical arsenal.