The French military on Saturday targeted Syria's main chemicals research centre as well as two other facilities, French Defence minister Florence Parly said, adding that Russia had been informed before the strikes were carried out.
The minister was speaking hours after President Emmanuel Macron ordered a military intervention in Syria alongside the United States and Britain in an attack on the chemical weapons arsenal of the country's regime.
"We are not looking for confrontation and refuse any logic of escalation, that is the reason why we, with our allies, ensured the Russians were warned beforehand," Parly told journalists in a short statement alongside Foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.
Parly also said cruise missiles had been fired by the French military.