MOSCOW, September 15 (RIA Novosti) - France has begun surveillance flights backing the United States" air campaign against the Islamic State (IS) in northern Iraq and Syria, Al-Arabiya reported Monday.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Paris began surveillance flights to back the United States" air campaign in Iraq, Al-Arabiya reported.
France first offered to support US airstrikes on September 10 preceding US President Barack Obama's speech outlining the steps the country would take against IS militants. Fabius called on the international community claiming attacks in Iraq and Syria were a "transnational danger that could reach all the way to our soil," The Associated Press reported.
"We will participate, if necessary, in military air action" in Iraq, Fabius said last week, according to a text provided by the French Foreign Ministry.
France has agreed to help, but expressed caution in its role adding it would not put troops on the ground in Iraq, but considered alternative tactics in Syria, AP reported. France has already sent arms to Kurdish forces fighting IS militants.
During his speech addressing the nation on September 11, Obama assured Americans that the US Army would not return to fight in Iraq. However, he admitted that more military advisers are needed to bring the situation under control in Iraq. Obama announced he would dispatch another 500 US troops to Iraq to assist the country's security forces bringing the number of American forces in the area to more than 1,000.
