French President Francois Hollande Thursday said his country was ready to launch air strikes against the Islamic State (IS) militant group in Iraq "soon".
He, however, ruled out any plan to deploy ground troops in the conflict-torn country.
"Our goal is to contribute to peace and security in Iraq by weakening the terrorist. We will not go beyond (that). There won't be no ground troops," Xinhua quoted Hollande as saying at a press conference.
"At the request of Iraq authorities, we will act as soon as we'll identify the targets, that's to say soon," the president told reporters without giving accurate schedule.
Describing an "emergency situation in Iraq", Hollande recalled that French aircraft began reconnaissance flights over Iraq Monday from a French base in Abu Dhabi where Paris has six Rafale fighters jets and weapons have been offered to Iraq's Kurdish soldiers to halt insurgents progress in Iraqi northern region.
"Parliament will be informed since the first operations. The prime minister (Manuel Valls) meet the presidents of parliamentary groups as early as next week," he added.
Hollande stressed the offensive of Islamists insurgents in Iraq and Syria was threatening the security in Europe and the world, as 1,000 French nationals and residents joining the group and could return home "with the worst projects in their mind".