Paris: President Emmanuel Macron said today that France's air strikes in Syria in response to an alleged chemical attack were not a declaration of war against the Damascus regime. "We have not declared war on the regime of Bashar al-Assad," Macron said in a television interview, a day after France joined the United States and Britain in launching strikes.

France used its Rafale jets to target chemical research and storage sites in a Damascus suburb in Syria after  Macron had said, "The red line had been crossed."

French President Emmanuel Macron said he had convinced U.S. President Donald Trump to maintain troops in Syria.

"We convinced him it was necessary to remain there. We have complete international legitimacy to act in this framework," Macron said in an interview broadcast by BFM TV, RMC radio and Mediapart online news. The pair, who are reported to have a friendly relationship, reportedly spoke multiple times in the days before the military action was taken.

Speaking in a live TV interview, during which he was grilled on several subjects, Macron said: "Ten days ago, President Trump was saying 'the United States should withdraw from Syria'. We convinced him it was necessary to stay for the long term." In telephone calls with Trump, he also said he "persuaded him that we needed to limit the strikes to chemical weapons [sites], after things got a little carried away over tweets".

A tweet from Trump last week about U.S. missile strikes on Syria had read: "Get ready, Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and 'smart'. You shouldn't be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!"

Earlier this month, Trump declared the U.S. would "be coming out of Syria very soon". The U.S. has 2,000 special forces based in North-Eastern Syria fighting Islamic State militants along with a coalition of Kurdish Peshmerga fighters.

Upon being asked in the interview of Russia’s condemnation of the Syria attack, which Moscow also called illegal, Macron said, "We have three members of the [United Nations] Security Council who have intervened." Macron insisted the Western allies had "complete international legitimacy to act" in Syria. He said the allies had clear proof there had been a chemical attack in the town of Douma near Damascus on April 7 and that the Syrian government was responsible. Syria vehemently denies this.

Macron said he told Russian President Vladimir Putin directly that Russia - which backs the Syrian government militarily - was complicit. "They have not used chlorine themselves but they have methodically built the international community's inability to act through diplomatic channels to stop the use of chemical weapons," he said.

The strikes launched by U.S., UK and France represent the most significant attack against President Bashar al-Assad's government by Western powers in the seven years of the Syrian conflict. (With Agency inputs)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 16, 2018 09:06 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).