PARIS
French President Francois Hollande said on Thursday that France will only carry out military action against the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant militants in Iraq, but not in Syria.
Speaking at his fourth-biannual press conference since he came to power, Hollande said that France has started providing military air support to Iraq in response to Iraqi authorities’ request. However, he denied any intention to deploy military ground forces.
"France is to respond positively to the Iraqi authorities by carrying out air strikes against the militants there. We will not go beyond that. There will not be ground troops and we will only intervene in Iraq."
When asked about the possibility of fighting ISIL in Syria, Hollande ruled out any intervention.
During the press conference, Hollande used the Arabic acronym for ISIL, DAESH, following France's head of diplomacy Laurent Fabius request to journalists and media organizations to do the same last Monday.
“This is a terrorist group and not a state. I do not recommend using the term Islamic State because it blurs the lines between Islam, Muslims and Islamists. The Arabs call it "Daesh" and I will be calling them the "Daesh butchers.""
On Monday, Paris hosted an international conference on peace and security in Iraq where the leaders and officials from 29 countries met in Paris to agree to provide Baghdad with military aid to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants in Iraq.
The participants were "committed to supporting the new Iraqi government in its fight against ISIL by any means necessary, including appropriate military assistance" the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that tackling ISIL was "a matter of urgency."
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