Paris: France made an unprecedented demand for its European Union allies to support its military action against the Islamic State group as it launched new airstrikes on the militants' Syrian stronghold, days after attacks in Paris linked to the group killed at least 129 people.

France invoked a never-before-used article of the EU's Lisbon Treaty obliging members of the 28-nation bloc to give 'aid and assistance by all the means in their power' to a member country that is 'the victim of armed aggression on its territory.'