France at war, declares Hollande

“There will be no respite, nor truce”, stressed a resolute Hollande.

French military spokesman Col. Gilles Jaron said the latest airstrikes in the Islamic State group’s de-facto capital of Raqqa destroyed a command post and training camp.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that “it is necessary to establish direct contact with the French and work with them as allies”.

In order to ensure the security of French territory, Hollande announced that the reductions of army personnel would be suspended till 2019 “for the safety of our compatriots”, he added.

According to figures released by the global Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence in January, an estimated 440 Belgians had taken up arms for Sunni extremist groups in the Middle East, a per-capita figure about double that of France, and four times that of the UK.

Although the new security measures would greatly increase the state budget, Hollande affirmed that security was more important than tending to the budget deficit.

He declared that France was at war against “cowards”, referring to Islamic State which claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying they were in retaliation for French airstrikes in Iraq and Syria over the past year.

He was placed under judicial supervision but dropped off the radar – prompting authorities to issue an worldwide arrest warrant. A French security official said anti-terror intelligence officials had identified Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian of Moroccan descent, as chief architect of the attacks on a rock concert, a soccer game and popular nightspots in one of Paris’ trendiest districts.

Although “the authenticity of the passport in the name of Ahmed Al-Mohammad, born on September 10, 1990 in Idlib (Syria) remains to be verified”, the Office of Paris Prosecutor found the finger prints of the suicide bomber matched those collected during a check in Greece in October, 2015.

One of Abdeslam’s brothers, Brahim, blew himself up outside a Paris restaurant, also killing one civilian, during Friday night’s attacks involving six suicide bombers.

According to the prosecutor’s office, Amimour was known to the anti-terrorist service for having been charged with association with terrorist criminals.

Abaaoud came to public notice in Belgium last year for taking his then 13-year-old brother with him to Syria and appearing in an ISIS propaganda video in which he boasted about his pride in piling the dead bodies of “infidel” enemies into a trailer.

Hollande said France should strip dual nationals of their French citizenship if they are convicted of terrorism, and that dual nationals who present security risks should be banned from entry into France.

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”.

“That’s what struck me, his childish face, very determined, cold, calm, frightening”, Pearce said. “Everyone must be fully aware of that”, Valls said. In France, where a state of emergency is in effect, police carried out raids around the country overnight into Monday, seizing weapons that included a rocket launcher, officials said.

The identification of several French suspects stoked fears of homegrown terrorism in France, which has exported more jihadis than any other in Europe, and seen many return from the fight.

“We are making use of the legal framework of the state of emergency to question people who are part of the radical jihadist movement, and all those who advocate hate of the republic”, he said. He said he had ordered that 104 people be put under house arrest since the attacks. According to the French news magazine Le Point, investigators confiscated the hard drive from the computer at the hotel reception.

“Let this be clear to everyone, this is just the beginning, these actions are going to continue”, he told reporters.