(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Thursday that while the "opportunity is not present today" for France to strike targets of the extremist group, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria, "it is a question that is being put" depending on how the situation evolves.
Previously, France excluded any strikes in Syria because it was feared they would strengthen the hand of President Bashar Al-Assad and his military, which is also fighting the ISIL in some areas.
Paris has already carried out strikes in northern Iraq and President Francois Hollande said that France would operate only in Iraq and from the air and "no further than that." US planes, supported by several Arab allies in the region, have begun these past three days hitting extremist targets in Syria.
Le Drian told "RTL" radio that France would have to evaluate how the situation develops with the strikes already underway against the ISIL.
"We have a number of selected targets in Iraq," he said, adding that striking Syria is not on the programme today, "as we have an important task already in Iraq." "We will reflect in the coming days how the situation evolves," he remarked, noting that strikes in Syria against the ISIL "is a question that is being put." Le Drian will attend a Special Defence Council meeting with President Hollande and senior members of government later Thursday to discuss the campaign against ISIL and also the killing of a 55-year-old French hostage, Herve Gourdel, in Algeria by extremist group Jund Al-Khalifa on Wednesday.
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