France has the necessary resources to carry a military intervention in Syria independently or with its U.S. allies, the country's top military official said Friday.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday his country would be ready to strike if it found "irrefutable evidence" that chemical weapons had been used to kill civilians in Syria.
Speaking to French radio Europe 1, Chief-of-Staff Gen. Francois Lecointre said: "President Macron would not have made this type of statement if he did not know that we have the means."
When asked if France will coordinate such a move with its U.S. allies, Lecointre said :" Yes, obviously, it would be in connection with the Americans, no doubt."
"France has the opportunity to do things independently, but it has to show solidarity with a strategic essential ally, we share the same vision....about the situation in Syria," he added.
Last week, a UN inquiry commission released a report accusing the Syrian regime of committing war crimes in Eastern Ghouta, an opposition-held suburb of Damascus, including the use of chemical weapons on civilians, causing mass starvation, and preventing medical evacuations.
