News / France

Hollande: France to supply Iraqi forces with weapons

Friday, 22 July 2016 12:39 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 22 July 2016 2:45 PM ]

French President Francois Hollande makes a statement at the Élysée Palace in the capital Paris on July 22, 2016. (AFP)

President Francois Hollande says France will supply Iraqi forces with weapons in the fight against the Takfiri Daesh terrorists.

Following a meeting with a group of ministers and heads of the security forces on Friday, the French president said, "This morning at the defense council, I took the decision as part of the anti-Daesh coalition to make weapons available to Iraqi forces."

"They will be there next month," Hollande said, but he ruled out any French troop deployment in Iraq.

Hollande's announcement came in the wake of a recent deadly incident in the city of Nice, where a truck rammed into a crowd killing 84 people and injuring more than 200 others.

This image shows a French warplane on the tarmac at an undisclosed military base in the Persian Gulf on November 17, 2015, as part of the so-called US-led coalition conducting airstrikes against Daesh targets in Syria and Iraq. (AFP)

France also witnessed acts of terror in November 2015, when militants struck at least six different venues in and around the capital Paris, leaving 130 people dead and over 350 others injured.

France announced a state of emergency following the Paris attack. Following the truck attack in Nice, the country extended the state of emergency for another six months lasting until the end of January 2017.

The state of emergency allows the French security forces to make, among other measures, house searches and arrests without a court order.

On July 19, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned the country of more terrorist attacks and advised the people to be prepared to “live with the threat” of terrorism. “There will be other attacks and there will be other innocent people killed,” Valls explained to the people’s representatives in parliament.

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