German Chancellor Angela Merkel gives a statement to the media at the Chancellery | Getty Germany to assist French military in fight against ISIL German help with intelligence and refueling would be its first direct involvement in Syria and Iraq.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has offered France’s President François Hollande additional military assistance to fight ISIL, including intelligence from satellites and Tornado surveillance flights and mid-air refueling for French jets, German sources said.

The offer, made over dinner on Wednesday night, would mean Germany getting directly involved in military action in Syria and Iraq for the first time, albeit in a supporting role. So far, its contribution has been limited to arming and equipping Peshmerga fighters, and stepping up the German military presence in Mali in order to free up French resources for the fight against ISIL.

Germany would also deploy a naval frigate to help protect the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle.

Germany should "do more, if possible," said Hollande, who has also met U.S. President Barack Obama, Britain's David Cameron and Italy's Matteo Renzi this week in efforts to drum up support, and is due to meet Russia's Vladimir Putin later Thursday.

"When the French president asks me to think about what more we could do, then it is our duty to actually think about it," Merkel responded at a joint news conference with Hollande in Paris. "We will act quickly."

Back in Berlin on Thursday, the chancellor met her CDU/CSU group in the Bundestag, where her Social Democrat (SPD) coalition partners also met, to discuss the offer of military assistance for France.

Merkel's cabinet is set to agree on the legal text of a mandate next Tuesday, a government source told POLITICO, after which the Bundestag will vote next week, as lawmakers must give their approve for any deployment overseas of the Bundeswehr. Merkel's 'grand coalition' has a comfortable majority in the lower house of parliament.

German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen told lawmakers it was “a difficult but necessary and right step," according to the government source.

The French and German economy ministers, Emmanuel Macron and Sigmar Gabriel, additionally proposed “a €10 billion fund to fight terrorism and improve Europe’s handling of the refugee crisis” on Wednesday.

This article was updated with additional details.