French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday he would decide whether to hit Syrian regime chemical arms capabilities when he judged it “the most useful” and once all the information on the suspected toxic gas was verified.
“We will need to take decisions in due course, when we judge it most useful and effective,” Macron said.
He would give the green light to launch a military offensive alongside the United States “once we have verified all the information” to remove “the regime’s chemical attacks capabilities,” he told TF1 television.
The French president unveiled that Paris had “proof that chemical weapons were used last week, at least chlorine, and that they were used by the regime of Bashar al-Assad.”
Despite rising threats of war, Macron stressed the necessity to avoid “an escalation” in the region, which has already suffered long and bloody civil wars that have forced millions to displace and seek refuge in Europe.
“France will in no way allow an escalation or anything that would harm regional stability, but we cannot allow regimes that believe they can act with impunity to violate international law in the worst possible way,” he said.
Activists, local rescuers and rebels in Syria claim that Syrian forces used chlorine gas in the attack on April 7 against Douma, in the rebel-held area near Damascus. The Syrian government has denied the allegations and called the reports fake news that the West uses to justify attacking the country.