France Requests Help from European Union by Invoking Mutual Assistance Article

Antoni Macierewicz is attending a meeting of EU’s defence ministers in Brussels, to discuss strategies for tackling terrorism in the wake of Paris attacks.

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian with German counterpart Ursula van der Leyen in Brussels on Tuesday.

With the move, France becomes the first country in the European Union to invoke the 28-nation bloc’s mutual defense clause that calls on all member states to provide “mutual aid and assistance”.

The French defense ministry confirmed that French fighter jets dropped 16 bombs on Raqqa, Syria, early Tuesday, destroying a command center and a training center in the Islamic State’s de facto capital.

All European Union member states have agreed to assist France following the recent deadly Paris terrorist attacks, European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Tuesday.

“France will be in contact bilaterally in coming hours and days to express the support it requires and the European Union will ensure the greatest effectiveness in our common response”, former Italian foreign minister Mogherini added.

“We have declared that we are ready to send our F-16 jets back into action just as soon as they are militarily deemed ready”, he told news agency Ritzau.

Meanwhile, following a night of fresh airstrikes in Syria and police raids in suspected militant hideouts in France, the country’s Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced the mobilization of 115,000 police, gendarmes and military personnel “over the whole of our national territory to insure the protection of French people”. This is September 11 for Europe.

The U.S.-led air war, in which France has intensified its involvement, has lasted more than a year but failed to contain Islamic State.

The clause states that “if a member state is the victim of armed aggression on its territory, the other member states shall have towards it an obligation of aid and assistance within Article 51 of the United Nations Charter”.

Czech Republic Defense Minister Martin Stropnicky said he doesn’t expect any French requests for troops.

“France is a big powerful country and it has its own capacities to cope with the situation however serious it is”, he said.

London has not struck at Islamic State in Syria and although British Prime Minister David Cameron is said to be eager to take that step, he faces resistance from British lawmakers.