PARIS, March 16 (Xinhua) -- France was ready to launch "autonomously" a military offensive in Syria if the regime crossed the "red lines" that include the use of chemical weapons and the failure to open humanitarian corridors in the war-torn country, an army chief said on Friday.
"France can act independently, but there is solidarity in acting with a strategic ally, and one with the same vision of the situation in Syria and the crossing of these red lines," Francois Lecointre, head of the French army told local broadcaster Europe1.
Lecointre added the eventual military operation could "probably be in coordination with the Americans."
Earlier this week, French President Emmanuel Macron threatened to strike Syria if its use of toxic gas against civilians would be proven.
According to U.N. commission of inquiry on war crimes report released on March 6, forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had probably used chemical arms in rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta near Damascus.
The Syrian government has repeatedly rejected allegations of using chemical arms which it said were handed to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons as part of 2013 accord brokered by Moscow and Washington.
On Friday, Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said that no chemical weapons were used in Syria's Eastern Ghouta.
"I would like to reiterate there was not and there is not any chemical weapon used in Eastern Ghouta," Konashenkov said in a statement.
His comment came after some Western media reports on Thursday about the alleged use of chemical weapons in the Syrian settlement of Hamoryah recently.
