intv amanpour Manuel Valls source_00001516.jpg
French PM: Tackle refugee crisis 'at source'
00:41 - Source: CNN

Story highlights

French PM Manuel Valls spoke to Christiane Amanpour Wednesday

Says refugee crisis cannot be solved by simply receiving migrants

Valls promises air strikes

CNN  — 

France will soon launch air stikes in Syria, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday, saying the refugee crisis “cannot be solved just by receiving them.”

“At the moment there are millions of Syrians who are displaced. There are refugee camps – in Lebanon, in Jordan, in Turkey – receiving 4 to 5 million Syrians. And we’re not going to receive 4 to 5 million Syrians, so the problem has to be dealt with at source,” he said through an interpreter.

“These are very difficult subjects. And of course, in Syria, so long as we haven’t found a political solution; so long as we haven’t destroyed this terrorist group, Islamic State; so long as we haven’t got rid of Bashar Assad; we will not find a solution.”

France began flying reconnaissance missions over Syria this week, and Valls said he would appear before the country’s Parliament next Tuesday to announce “the objectives of France and that there will be strikes.”

With a view to bringing an end to the more than four-year-long war, Valls said France is in talks with Russia and that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani would be visiting Paris “in a few weeks.”

“Russia supports the regime of Bashar Assad. But it also wants to find a political solution. And anyway, there will not be any political solution without a dialogue with all of the parties who directly or indirectly are involved with Syria.”

“So this dialogue is essential in order to find a political solution.”