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[h=4]France demands EU invoke mutual-defense clause[/h]France became the first<span style="color: Red;">*</span>European Union country to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>request the 28-nation political bloc's mutual-defense clause be invoked to secure it in the wake of the Paris attacks that<span style="color: Red;">*</span>killed at least 129 people.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>
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Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Paris Monday to show American solidarity with France after Friday's attacks. Speaking outside the U.S. Embassy there, Kerry said the world will "never be intimidated by terrorists." (Nov. 16) AP
A French soldier enforcing the Vigipirate plan, France's national security alert system, patrols in front of the Sacre Coeur Basilica on November 16, 2015 in Paris.(Photo: JOEL SAGET, AFP/Getty Images)
France became the first<span style="color: Red;">*</span>European Union country to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>request the 28-nation political bloc's mutual-defense clause be invoked to secure it in the wake of the Paris attacks that<span style="color: Red;">*</span>killed at least 129 people.
Jean-Yves Le Drian, France's defense minister, made the demand in Brussels on Tuesday.
He said that other EU member nations should help the security situation by<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"either by taking part in France's operations in Syria or Iraq, or by easing the load or providing support for France in other operations."
The clause<span style="color: Red;">*</span>—<span style="color: Red;">*</span>article 42.7 of the Treaty on European Union<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— says that "if a member state is the victim of armed aggression on its territory, the other member states shall have toward<span style="color: Red;">*</span>it an obligation of aid and assistance by all the means in their power."
The article has never before been used. The demand received unanimous support.
However the implications and timing of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>any EU-wide effort to act on the clause<span style="color: Red;">*</span>were not immediately clear. Ursula von der Leyen, Germany's defense minister, said in Brussels that Germany would do "all in our power to offer help and support" but that<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Tuesday was "not a day of concrete actions" but a "day of listening."
Earlier Tuesday,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>France launched additional airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria on as police conducted dozens of new raids overnight and the government said it was still trying to determine how militants planned and carried out the attacks in Paris.
The French military said the new airstrikes targeted an Islamic State<span style="color: Red;">*</span>—<span style="color: Red;">*</span>also<span style="color: Red;">*</span>known as ISIL or ISIS<span style="color: Red;">*</span>—<span style="color: Red;">*</span>command post and training camp in Raqqa, Syria. The operation came after an earlier<span style="color: Red;">*</span>retaliatory strike by France in Raqqa on Sunday.
An independent monitoring group in the ISIL stronghold,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently, said no civilians were killed in the airstrikes. That claim has not been verified.
Meanwhile,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the manhunt intensified for Belgian-born Salah Abdeslam, thought to be the only surviving suspect out of the three groups of suicide bombers and gunmen who carried out Friday's attacks on<span style="color: Red;">*</span>popular restaurants, a music hall<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and a soccer stadium.
USA TODAY
After Paris attacks, Pentagon quietly shifts to new phase of ISIS war
France's<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Prime Minister Manuel Valls told French TV on Tuesday that his country's intelligence services have identified at least 10,000 radicalized people in France.
"We will have to live with this threat for a long time. We are faced with determined terrorists willing to die. We must all be aware we can be attacked again," he<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said.
Photo from the French Ministry of Defense on Nov. 15, 2015, shows a French fighter jet part taking off from a base in the Gulf.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: ECPAD/HANDOUT, EPA)
Valls told<span style="color: Red;">*</span>France Inter radio that some victims have yet to be identified,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and said that<span style="color: Red;">*</span>authorities still did not know enough about the attacks<span style="color: Red;">*</span>outside the national<span style="color: Red;">*</span>stadium.
In another<span style="color: Red;">*</span>interview with French TV, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said that 115,000 police officers and military personnel were mobilized across France.
He said that nearly 130 raids and searches across France took place from Monday night to Tuesday morning. He said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“the majority of those who were involved in this attack were unknown to our services.”
A few dozen<span style="color: Red;">*</span>people have so far been detained by police in Belgium and France in connection with the attacks, suspected of having been masterminded by<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Abdelhamid Abaaoud, 27, from Belgium. His whereabouts are unknown.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>He may be in Syria.
Secretary of State John Kerry held talks<span style="color: Red;">*</span>with President Francois Hollande. Kerry said that ISIL was under pressure and losing territory. Hollande will travel to Washington next week to discuss the unfolding security situation with President Obama.
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