Mirroring U.S. policy, France will wait for its parliament to consider possible military action against Syria before President François Hollande decides whether to launch strikes, his office said Saturday.


Paris hewed a close line to Washington while asserting its independence after U.S. President Barack Obama said Saturday he believes the United States should respond with force over a suspected chemical weapons attack by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, but decided to put the issue before the U.S. Congress first.



France under Hollande has been the most vocal and visible country to show willingness to join the United States in military action against Syria following an alleged chemical weapons attack in rebel-held or contested areas last week. The U.S. claims the attack killed 1,429 people — including more than 400 children — marking a grave and intolerable escalation in Syria's two-year civil war that has left 100,000 dead.


Before his speech about Syria outside the White House, Obama explained his decision to Hollande in a phone call, said an official in the French president's office. Hollande noted that he had already decided to convene France's parliament on Wednesday to take up a debate about Syria.


The two presidents "reaffirmed their joint willingness to act," and have an "absolute and shared conviction" that Assad's regime was behind the chemical weapons attack, the official said on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to be publicly named under presidential policy.


Unlike in Britain, Hollande does not need the permission of parliament to order France to intervene militarily. Britain's parliament on Thursday rejected efforts by Prime Minister David Cameron to have British forces possibly take part in military action against Syria.