By Robin Emmott
BRUSSELS, 17 Nov. - (ANA) - France invoked the European Union's mutual assistance clause for the first time on Tuesday, asking its partners for military help and other aid in missions in the Middle East and Africa after the Paris attacks, Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said.

He said all 28 EU member states had accepted France's formal call for "aid and assistance" under the EU treaty and he expected all to help quickly in various regions.

"This is firstly a political act," Le Drian said of the decision to invoke Article 42.7 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty.

"Beyond that, how is this going to work? It may be by cooperating with French interventions in Syria, in Iraq, it may be in support of France in other operations," he told a news conference. (ANA)

AB/ANA/ 17 November 2017 - - -