France, Russia launch more strikes against IS targets in Syria

The Eiffel Tower is lit with the blue, white and red colours of the French flag in Paris, France, November 17, 2015, to pay tribute to the victims of a series of deadly attacks on Friday in the French capital. The City of Paris motto "Fluctuat Nec Mergitur", Latin for "buffeted (by waves) but not sunk" is projected on the Eiffel Tower. [Photo/Agencies]

In an extraordinary address to the two chambers of parliament, French President Francois Hollande pledged that the country would intensify the assaults on the IS.

"We will continue the strikes in the coming weeks," he said, adding that France's aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle would be deployed to the eastern Mediterranean, which would "triple our capacity of action."

"There will be no respite, no truce," said Hollande, who has declared "a war against jihadist terrorism which threatens the whole world."

He said he would meet his US and Russian counterparts, Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin, in the coming days in order to build a stronger global coalition to combat the IS, which seized major cities in Syria and Iraq and threatened national security in Western countries and their Arab allies.