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| France Supports U.S. for Action Against Syria | France Supports U.S. for Action Against Syria |
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| PARIS — President François Hollande of France on Friday offered strong support for international military action against the Syrian government, supporting the Obama administration just a day after the British Parliament rejected Minister Prime David Cameron’s call for intervention. | PARIS — President François Hollande of France on Friday offered strong support for international military action against the Syrian government, supporting the Obama administration just a day after the British Parliament rejected Minister Prime David Cameron’s call for intervention. |
| A chemical attack in the Damascus suburbs on Aug. 21 attributed by Western powers to Syrian government forces “must not go unpunished,” Mr. Hollande said in an interview with Le Monde, the French daily newspaper. “Otherwise, it would be taking the risk of an escalation that would normalize the use of these weapons and threaten other countries.” | A chemical attack in the Damascus suburbs on Aug. 21 attributed by Western powers to Syrian government forces “must not go unpunished,” Mr. Hollande said in an interview with Le Monde, the French daily newspaper. “Otherwise, it would be taking the risk of an escalation that would normalize the use of these weapons and threaten other countries.” |
| A military strike against government targets would have a “dissuasion value” and push the government of President Bashar al-Assad toward a negotiated “political solution” to the conflict, Mr. Hollande said, referring to France’s explicitly stated goal. | A military strike against government targets would have a “dissuasion value” and push the government of President Bashar al-Assad toward a negotiated “political solution” to the conflict, Mr. Hollande said, referring to France’s explicitly stated goal. |
| France has been outspoken in saying the government of Mr. Assad must be punished for the reported poison gas attack last Wednesday, in which hundreds of people were killed. Although Mr. Hollande has presented no specific evidence linking Syrian government to the attacks, he has spoken confidently of its culpability. Parliamentary approval is not required for French military action, and Mr. Hollande has said his government was “prepared to punish” those responsible. | France has been outspoken in saying the government of Mr. Assad must be punished for the reported poison gas attack last Wednesday, in which hundreds of people were killed. Although Mr. Hollande has presented no specific evidence linking Syrian government to the attacks, he has spoken confidently of its culpability. Parliamentary approval is not required for French military action, and Mr. Hollande has said his government was “prepared to punish” those responsible. |
| “France possesses a body of evidence that goes in the sense of the regime’s responsibility” for the chemical attacks near Damascus, Mr. Hollande said. The use of chemical weapons there is an “established fact,” he said, and “it is known that the opposition possesses none of these weapons.” | “France possesses a body of evidence that goes in the sense of the regime’s responsibility” for the chemical attacks near Damascus, Mr. Hollande said. The use of chemical weapons there is an “established fact,” he said, and “it is known that the opposition possesses none of these weapons.” |
| France’s determination contrasted sharply with the go-slowly approach of Germany. “We are pressing for the United Nations Security Council to reach a common position and for the U.N. inspectors to conclude their work as soon as possible,” said the German foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, in comments reported by a regional newspaper, the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung. Referring to German participation in a military strike, he said, “Such participation was not requested of us and neither are we contemplating it.” | |
| Both Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government and the opposition have sounded cautious over Syria, anxious in a war-averse country not to have a military conflict become part of the campaign for elections on Sept. 22. Ms. Merkel’s main rivals, the Social Democrats, have urged President Obama to delay any military action at least until after he meets fellow world leaders at the St. Petersburg G-20 summit late next week. Ms. Merkel, while condemning the chemical weapons attack in strong terms, has avoided any comment on suggestions from the Social Democrats that she mediate between the Russians and Americans on Syria. | |
| In a telephone call Thursday with Mr. Hollande, Ms. Merkel said that while Germany rejects taking part in military action, she believed that the chemical weapons attack should not go unpunished. | |
| Mr. Hollande’s interview appeared just a day after Mr. Cameron was handed a stinging rebuke in the House of Commons, where Parliament rejected British military participation in any strike on the Syrian government. | Mr. Hollande’s interview appeared just a day after Mr. Cameron was handed a stinging rebuke in the House of Commons, where Parliament rejected British military participation in any strike on the Syrian government. |
| British legislators rejected a motion urging an international response to the chemical weapons attack by a vote of 285 to 272, reflecting concerns that there was insufficient evidence that the Aug. 21 attack in the eastern suburbs of Damascus had been carried out by forces loyal to Mr. Assad. Lawmakers were also worried about the strategy behind the call for limited strikes, which they feared could cause an escalation of the conflict and strengthen opposition forces aligned with Al Qaeda. | British legislators rejected a motion urging an international response to the chemical weapons attack by a vote of 285 to 272, reflecting concerns that there was insufficient evidence that the Aug. 21 attack in the eastern suburbs of Damascus had been carried out by forces loyal to Mr. Assad. Lawmakers were also worried about the strategy behind the call for limited strikes, which they feared could cause an escalation of the conflict and strengthen opposition forces aligned with Al Qaeda. |
| The Obama administration is nonetheless moving ahead, despite doubts in Congress and among the American public. Pentagon officials said Thursday that the Navy had moved five destroyers, each equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles, into the eastern Mediterranean Sea to prepare for a possible strike. | The Obama administration is nonetheless moving ahead, despite doubts in Congress and among the American public. Pentagon officials said Thursday that the Navy had moved five destroyers, each equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles, into the eastern Mediterranean Sea to prepare for a possible strike. |
| The United States will continue trying to build an international coalition, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Friday in Manila, the Philippine capital. | The United States will continue trying to build an international coalition, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Friday in Manila, the Philippine capital. |
| “Our approach is to continue to find an international coalition that will act together,” Mr. Hagel said. “And I think you’re seeing a number of countries state, publicly state, their position on the use of chemical weapons.” | “Our approach is to continue to find an international coalition that will act together,” Mr. Hagel said. “And I think you’re seeing a number of countries state, publicly state, their position on the use of chemical weapons.” |
| The British government’s decision to forego military action in Syria will not alter France’s intention to intervene, Mr. Hollande said in the interview. | |
| “Each country is sovereign to participate or not in an operation,” he said. | “Each country is sovereign to participate or not in an operation,” he said. |
| Mr. Cameron addressed the parliamentary defeat on Friday, telling journalists in London, “We will continue to take a case to the United Nations. We will continue to work in all the organizations we are members of — whether the E.U., or NATO, or the G-8 or the G-20 — to condemn what’s happened in Syria.” | Mr. Cameron addressed the parliamentary defeat on Friday, telling journalists in London, “We will continue to take a case to the United Nations. We will continue to work in all the organizations we are members of — whether the E.U., or NATO, or the G-8 or the G-20 — to condemn what’s happened in Syria.” |
| “It’s important we uphold the international taboo on the use of chemical weapons,” he said. “But one thing that was proposed, the potential — only after another vote — involvement of the British military in any action, that won’t be happening.” | “It’s important we uphold the international taboo on the use of chemical weapons,” he said. “But one thing that was proposed, the potential — only after another vote — involvement of the British military in any action, that won’t be happening.” |
| “That won’t be happening because the British Parliament, reflecting the great skepticism of the British people about any involvement in the Middle East,” Mr. Cameron said, “and I understand that, that part of it won’t be going ahead.” | “That won’t be happening because the British Parliament, reflecting the great skepticism of the British people about any involvement in the Middle East,” Mr. Cameron said, “and I understand that, that part of it won’t be going ahead.” |
| Mr. Obama has no hope of obtaining a mandate for a military strike in the United Nations Security Council. Russia, Syria’s longtime backer, has long opposed military intervention of any sort, and China, which has called for the full results of an investigation by United Nations inspectors before any decision is made, has continued to push for more diplomacy. | Mr. Obama has no hope of obtaining a mandate for a military strike in the United Nations Security Council. Russia, Syria’s longtime backer, has long opposed military intervention of any sort, and China, which has called for the full results of an investigation by United Nations inspectors before any decision is made, has continued to push for more diplomacy. |
| On Friday, President Vladimir V. Putin’s top foreign policy aide, Yuri V. Ushakov, said that Russia was “actively working to avoid a forceful intervention in Syria,” the Interfax news service reported. | |
| “We would not like the situation to approach one, when one government or group of governments themselves issue accusations, judge them and carry out their own personal sentence,” he said. | |
| Mr. Ushakov said the United States had not shared intelligence showing that Mr. Assad was behind last week’s chemical weapons attack, and, “We do not believe it.” | |
| Aleksei K. Pushkov, chairman of the Russian Parliament’s foreign affairs committee, described the British Parliament’s rejection of military action as evidence of a “deepening schism” in the West. | |
| “The refusal of Great Britain to support aggression against Syria is the strongest strike against the positions of the supporters of war, both for NATO and for the U.S.A.,” Mr. Pushkov said in a Twitter post. “The schism is getting deeper.” | |
| Mr. Pushkov wrote earlier that Mr. Obama wanted to strike Syria “this week, before his departure for the G-20.” | |
| George Osborne, chancellor of the Exchequer and a senior politician in Mr. Cameron’s Conservative Party, told the BBC on Friday that Parliament’s rejection of military action would bring “a national soul-searching about our role in the world and whether Britain wants to play a big part in upholding the international system.” | George Osborne, chancellor of the Exchequer and a senior politician in Mr. Cameron’s Conservative Party, told the BBC on Friday that Parliament’s rejection of military action would bring “a national soul-searching about our role in the world and whether Britain wants to play a big part in upholding the international system.” |
| He was optimistic, however, that Britain’s “special relationship” with the United States would survive. “There’s a bit of hyperbole on this in the last 24 hours,” he said. “The relationship with the United States is a very old one, very deep and operates on many layers.” | |
| Both Mr. Cameron’s government and the Obama administration have said there was little doubt that chemical weapons had been used by government forces. The Syrian government has denied responsibility for the attack. | |
| Anxiety is high in Damascus amid fear that a strike could come at any time in the next few days. The United Nations chemical weapons inspection team that has been on the ground in Syria this week was expected to carry out a final day of tests on Friday. The team is scheduled to depart Saturday morning and to brief Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary-general, soon after. | |
| The British Foreign Office on Friday warned its citizens “against all but essential travel” to Lebanon, citing “the recent upsurge in violence and wider regional tensions.” | The British Foreign Office on Friday warned its citizens “against all but essential travel” to Lebanon, citing “the recent upsurge in violence and wider regional tensions.” |
Alan Cowell contributed reporting from | Alan Cowell contributed reporting from London and Andrew Roth from Moscow. Alison Smale and Victor Homola contributed from Berlin. |