French President François Hollande announced during a rare appearance before both Houses of the French Parliament at the Palace of Versailles that “France is at war.”
“The acts of war of Friday were decided and planned in Syria,” he said. “They were organized in Belgium and committed on our land.”
Six separate attacks across Paris on Friday left over 130 people dead. The Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) took credit for the massacres as a way to punish France for participating in airstrikes in Syria against the radical Islamic group.
Hollande also asked Parliament “to approve a three-month extension of the nation’s state of emergency, new laws that would allow authorities to strip citizenship from French-born terrorists, and provisions making it easier to deport suspected terrorists.” He promised more airstrikes against the group.
France conducted airstrikes in Syria on Monday. Activists in Raqqa, the capital of the group’s self-declared Caliphate, said they heard bombing during the night, and the Defense Ministry announced that the government dropped twenty bombs in the city. The bombs destroyed a commanding post, recruitment centers, and “a depot for arms and munitions.”
“We are not committed to a war of civilizations, because these assassins don’t represent any civilization,” continued Hollande. “We are in a war against terrorism, jihadism, which threatens the whole world.”
Hollande also told the government he “would invoke a provision of the European Union that provides backup when a member-nation is attacked” and “consult with the United States and Russia to ‘fight against ISIS within the framework of a coalition.’” Hollande announced the UN Climate Change Conference will be held in Paris at the end of the month.
“Terrorism will not destroy France, because France will destroy it,” he stated at the end of his speech.
And at the end of that speech, Parliament rose to their feet and belted out “La Marseillaise,” the French national anthem.
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