Cameron: U.K. must join anti-ISIL airstrikes in Syria

Show Caption Hide Caption David Cameron will seek Parliamentary approval to join airstrikes against ISIS At a meeting in France Monday, British Prime Minister David Cameron said he'll seek Parliamentary approval to join airstrikes against ISIS in Syria following the deadly Paris attacks.

The president of France toured the deadliest scene of Paris' terrorist attacks Monday as British Prime Minister David Cameron called for Britain to join the growing ranks of nations bombing the Islamic State's home base in Syria.

French President Francois Hollande and Cameron visited the Bataclan theater, where an American rock band was performing when terrorists struck, killing 89. In all, 130 people died in a series of attacks that the Islamic State said it carried out Nov. 13.

Also Monday, French police said a Paris street cleaner found an explosive belt without a detonator in the same area where Belgian native Saleh Abdeslam, the subject of an international manhunt for his suspected role in the attacks, was believed to be Nov. 13. The belt was found in a pile of rubble in the southern suburb of Montrouge, the Associated Press reported, citing three unnamed police officials.

Hollande, who wants a stronger international coalition to combat the extremist group, will visit Washington on Tuesday and will travel to Moscow this week.

He won a new ally in Cameron, who pledged to press his Parliament to approve British airstrikes in Syria. Parliament rejected a similar request to target Syria in 2013, although Britain participates in a U.S.-led coalition conducting airstrikes against the Islamic State in Iraq. Cameron offered Hollande use of a British air base in Cyprus to aid the fight.

"I firmly support the action that President Hollande has taken to strike ISIL in Syria," Cameron said, using an acronym for the militants. "It is my firm conviction that Britain should do so, too."

The United States, France, Russia and Turkey are among the countries that have intensified airstrikes against the Islamic State, which considers Raqqa, Syria, as its headquarters.

France began launching strikes Monday from its Charles-de-Gaulle aircraft carrier, which was deployed last week. Hollande said France will step up its airstrikes, and his nation is working with Cameron toward a political solution to end the civil war in Syria that started in 2011, giving rise to the Islamic State and unleashing millions of refugees fleeing the violence.

Syria has become a haven for Islamic State militants, the reason behind much of the exodus of migrants to Europe. France had been pounding militant targets in Iraq and Syria.

The extremist group said the Paris attacks were retaliation for the French airstrikes. At least one of the Paris terrorists entered Europe with a wave of Syrian immigrants, French authorities said.

Cameron said Britain and France must work more closely with their European neighbors to share intelligence. "In particular, we must do more to tackle the threat of returning foreign fighters," he said. "This requires a pan-European effort."

Abdelhamid Abaaoud, 27, a Belgian and suspected plotter of the Paris attacks, traveled to Syria to join the Islamic State. He was killed last week in a raid on an apartment in the northern Paris neighborhood of Saint Denis.

Also Monday, the band U2 announced new dates — Dec. 6 and 7 — for shows that had been canceled Nov. 14 and 15 because of the attacks.

"So much that was taken from Paris on the tragic night of Nov. 13th is irreplaceable," band leader Bono said in Dublin. "For one night, the killers took lives, took music, took peace of mind — but they couldn't steal the spirit of that city. ... We’re going to put on our best for Paris."

President Hollande and I stood shoulder to shoulder outside the Bataclan Cafe in Paris. pic.twitter.com/prDbxIFy5u — David Cameron (@David_Cameron) November 23, 2015

Brussels remained in lockdown after Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel extended the highest alert level until at least Wednesday, citing an "imminent threat" to the capital. Commuter trains were halted, schools were closed and many shopping centers and cultural venues and sports arenas were shut down or nearly empty while troops patrolled the streets.

Heavily armed security teams arrested 21 people in a series of raids in and around Brussels, as more than 1,000 officers hunted for fugitive Abdeslam and other possible terrorists linked to the series of attacks. Belgium Interior Minister Jan Jambon said Abdeslam must have "a lot of help" to remain on the run for so long.

"The work is not done," Jambon told Belgian radio. "We will continue until we clean up this mess."