French lawmakers vote to extend airstrikes against IS
PARIS – French lawmakers voted Wednesday to continue airstrikes in Syria against the Islamic State group that claimed responsibility for the Nov. 13 attacks that killed 130 people in Paris, while Germany’s chancellor said her country would do more in the international fight against the group.
Parliament’s upper house, the Senate, voted 325-0 with 21 abstentions to prolong France’s airstrikes in Syria beyond early January. The lower house had earlier voted 515-4 in favor.
French fighter jets joined the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State extremists in Iraq in 2014, and expanded their mission to IS targets in Syria in September. President Francois Hollande cited specific threats against French interests stemming from IS in Syria.
The vote came as Hollande and German Chanellor Angela Merkel discussed how to combat the group that has spread its violence beyond Syria to Europe and North Africa.
Merkel indicated her country would do more in the international fight against IS.
“We know that this attack wasn’t just intended for the people of Paris, but for our whole way of life,” she said after laying a single white rose at the Place de la Republique, the Paris square that has become the focal point of tributes for the victims.
Germany, Merkel said, wasn’t just saddened by the attacks, “it also feels challenged to do everything to prevent such events from happening again.”
Hollande said it would “be a very good signal in the fight against terrorism” if Germany could do more against IS in Syria and Iraq. Germany currently provides weapons and training for Kurds fighting against IS in Iraq.
“If the French president asks me to think about what more we can do, then it’s our task to think about that and we will act quickly,” Merkel said, adding that the Islamic State “can’t be convinced with words, it must be fought with military means.”
On the investigative front, France and Belgium continued a manhunt for two fugitive suspects believed to be directly linked to the Paris attacks.
In the Belgian capital, schools reopened despite the city remaining on the highest possible alert level. Authorities raised it on Saturday saying the threat of a further attack was serious and imminent.
Police armed with automatic weapons stood guard outside schools, while Brussels’ subway system partially reopened, bringing a sense of relative normalcy back to the city.