Syria censures France for following US war policy

"It's shameful that the French president... says 'if Congress approves, I go to war, otherwise I won't go', as if the French government had no say in the matter," Faisal Muqdad said in an exclusive interview with AFP on Wednesday.
 
Paris has followed Washington in building a case that the Syrian government used chemical weapons in the suburbs of Damascus last month.
 
However, it has announced that it will not carry out unilateral missile strikes against Syria pending a decision by US Congress on the issue.
 
On August 21, the militants operating inside Syria and the foreign-backed Syrian opposition claimed that 1,300 people had been killed in a government chemical attack on militant strongholds in the Damascus suburbs of Ain Tarma, Zamalka, and Jobar.
 
A number of Western countries, including the US, France, and the UK, were quick to adopt the rhetoric of war against Syria despite the fact that Damascus categorically rejected having had any role in the chemical attack, describing the incident as a false-flag operation by militants.
 
On August 29, the British parliament voted against participation by Britain, the United States’ closest ally, in any potential military intervention in Syria. While the British government had primarily sought a second vote in the parliament as well, it ruled out any such vote on September 2, saying that the parliament “has spoken,” and that the government “has absolutely no plans to go back to parliament.”
 
On Wednesday, French lawmakers convened in an extraordinary session to debate on whether join the United States in its proposed military strike against Damascus.
 
During the session, French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault tried to justify the government’s determination for a military strike. Ayrault told the National Assembly that the move was needed to punish the Syrian government and prevent similar attacks in the future.
 
However, a recent survey shows nearly 75 percent of French people want the country’s parliament to vote on any potential military intervention in Syria.
 
An earlier poll said that 64 percent of French nationals oppose their country's involvement in a possible war against Syria.