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French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said on Wednesday that his country will offer assistance for the coalition forces if Iraq uses chemical weapons against them.
But Villepin ruled out French involvement in the fighting.
Addressing a committee of the French parliament, the foreign minister said "in the event of chemical weapons being used against the US and British armies, our country would offer assistance, without getting involved in a conflict which it opposes."
Villepin said the issue of France's noninvolvement in the Iraq war was "essential".
He said it was urgent to "lay down the conditions for a speedy re-establishment of the Iraqi full sovereignty over their territory, while preserving the unity and territorial integrity of the country."
French Defense Ministry spokesman, Jean-Francois Bureau, made the same offer before the outbreak of the Iraq war.
The spokesman said the French offer to help could include decontamination material, protective suits, the dispatch of experts or military aid.
(Xinhua News Agency March 27, 2003)
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