“FRANCE is at war,” said the country’s president, François Hollande, speaking to an extraordinary joint session of parliament in the gilded halls of Versailles on November 16th. But just what sort of war does he mean? On this Mr Hollande was eloquent but vague. He repeatedly affirmed that France must respond to the “ignoble” attack three days earlier, when terrorists killed at least 129 people of 19 different nationalities in Paris. But he also hinted at how difficult it is proving to react to attacks that were apparently planned in Syria, organised in Belgium and conducted on French soil—in part by French citizens.
The simplest bit is to carry on with existing plans. French jets carried out intense bombing raids against territory controlled by the Islamic State (IS) late on November 15th. Mr Hollande claimed they had destroyed a training camp and a command centre there. But the effectiveness of those strikes, and others by American forces, is proving hard to gauge. IS released a predictably jeering statement saying that the French bombs had inflicted no serious damage. Air strikes may contain or restrict the movement of IS leaders...Continue reading
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