Cameron pledges support to France over post-attacks strategy

Hollande to step up fight against ISIL

French President Francois Hollande (right) and British Prime Minister David Cameron give a joint statement following talks at the Elysee Palace in Paris, on Monday.
French President Francois Hollande (right) and British Prime Minister David Cameron give a joint statement following talks at the Elysee Palace in Paris, on Monday.
block
AFP, Paris :
British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday pledged his support for France’s stepped-up efforts to bomb Islamic State jihadists in Syria after the Paris attacks, and said he believed Britain should take similar action.
“I firmly support the action President Hollande has taken to strike ISIL in Syria,” Cameron said after talks in Paris, adding: “It’s my firm conviction that Britain should do so too.”
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister David Cameron said in Paris on Monday that he was convinced the UK should carry out military air strikes alongside France and other partners in Syria in an effort to defeat Islamic State.
Speaking at a joint news conference French President Francois Hollande, Cameron also said he had offered France use of a British airbase in Cyprus as well as additional assistance with air-to-air refueling.
“Later this week I will set out in parliament our comprehensive strategy for tackling ISIL (Islamic State),” Cameron said.
“I firmly support the action that President Hollande has taken to strike ISIL in Syria and it is my firm conviction that Britain should do so too,” he said, adding that that was a decision for parliament to take.
The UK prime minister is wagering that the attacks that killed 130 people in attacks in Paris on Nov. 13 will tip parliament in favor of launching strikes.
Cameron is eager to avoid a repeat of 2013, when he lost a crunch parliamentary vote on air strikes against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.
He also said that he would step up efforts to share intelligence with France and other European partners, adding that he planned to present a comprehensive strategy to defeat Islamic State to parliament later this week.
France’s president has said his country will step up its fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, launching a week of diplomacy with a meeting with the British prime minister in Paris.
Francois Hollande and David Cameron held a joint press conference in the French capital on Monday, a day after French police appealed for help in identifying one of the men involved in the Paris attacks.
block