Majority of French people in favor of military intervention in Syria: poll

Majority of French people backed Paris' military operation on Islamic State (IS) in Syria after the year-long civil war in Damascus triggered Europe's worst migration crisis since the Second World War, a survey showed on Sunday.

A 61 percent of respondents supported France's strikes against the militant groups and to send ground troops in the conflict-torn Arab country, an Odoxa poll showed.

The eventual military offensive has an overwhelmingly support with the 65 percent of the ruling Socialists' supporters said yes to use military option to end Syrian crisis while 67 percent of the rightists were in favor and more than two thirds of far-right National Front's followers backed French action on Syria.

"They prefer to make war there rather than welcome (Syrian) refugees here," says Gael Sliman, Odoxa's director.

France has been providing weapons to opposition Syrian Kurdish forces but has repeatedly ruled out taking part in strikes on the Islamic State inside Syrian borders without a United Nations mandate. However, It was the first country to join U.S-led coalition military offensive against Islamist fighters in Iraq.

According to the daily Le Monde, French President Francois Hollande was considering military action in Syria. He discussed the issue with his defense team at a meeting on Friday after Syrian civil war forced thousands of people to put their lives on edge by boarding rickety boats to cross to Europe.

The survey questioned 1,003 respondents on Sept. 3 and 4. Endit