PARIS - France is committed to "destroying" the so-called Islamic State group after Friday's deadly attacks, President Francois Hollande said Monday.
He said he would table a bill to extend the state of emergency declared after the attacks for three months and would suggest changes to the constitution.
France's military campaign against IS in Iraq and Syria will also intensify.
President Hollande said the actions were not short term. In coming years, he told France to expect
- 5,000 extra police posts in the next two years and no new cuts in the defence budget
- Making it easier to strip dual nationals of their French citizenship if they are convicted of a terrorist offence, as long as this did not render them stateless
- Speeding up the deportation of foreigners who pose "a particularly grave threat to the security of the nation"
- Pushing for greater European action against arms trafficking and greater penalties for it in France
French police on Monday raided 168 locations across the country and detained nearly two dozen people as authorities identified more members of a sleeper cell said to be behind the Paris attacks that killed 129 people.
- The attackers: What we know
- Thailand reacts: Security upgrades ordered
- Financial fallout: Baht weakens because of Paris attacks
- Thai Tourism Authority: Impact will be short term
French and Belgian jihadis - and at least one potential Syrian member - were being implicated in what was the worst attack on French soil since World War II. The mastermind is said to be a Belgian national (photo below) who has been linked to thwarted earlier attacks on a train and a French church.
President Francois Hollande (top left) sang the national anthem, 'La Marseillaise', after a speech to a joint session of the National Assembly and Senate at the Palace of Versailles, near Paris. (EPA photo)
Overnight Sunday, France launched its heaviest airstrikes yet on the Islamic State group's de-facto capital in Syria. Prime Minister Manuel Valls said "we are at war" against terrorism.
President Hollande spoke to a rare joint sitting of both houses of parliament.
"I decided to ask parliament starting Wednesday to examine a bill prolonging the state of emergency for three months," he said. He called on lawmakers to "adopt it by the end of the week".
He also called for the French constitution to be amended to "allow the authorities to act... against war-level terrorism"
Activists on the ground say French airstrikes on the northern Syrian city of Raqqa hit military targets in the Islamic State group's de facto capital, without any civilian casualties.
Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Monday night (Thailand time) that the French targeted military facilities on the northern and southern edges of the city.
He said there were casualties among IS, but did not provide numbers.
Sarmad al-Jilane, of the Raqqa-based collective called Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, said the city is tense, with few people venturing out even though markets are open.
Authorities believe that Abdelhamid Abaaoud, 27, a Belgian national believed to be in Syria with ISIS forces, is the brains behind the Paris attacks, which involved three coordinated teams of terrorists armed with rifles and explosive vests. (Photo from Dabiq magazine)
France's Defence Ministry said 12 aircraft dropped a total of 20 bombs Sunday night in the biggest air strikes since France extended its bombing campaign against the extremist group to Syria in September.
With France under a state of emergency that gives police special powers, the hunt continued for members of the cell that carried out last Friday's gun and bomb attacks.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said police arrested 23 people and recovered a Kalashnikov and other weapons during the overnight raids.
Heavily armed Belgian police also launched a major operation in the Molenbeek neighbourhood of Brussels, which authorities consider to be a focal point for extremists and fighters going to Syria from Belgium.
Across France and throughout Europe, people paused for a minute's silence at noon French time (6pm Thailand time) in memory of the victims.