PARIS, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The French army joined on Friday night the United States and Britain in an operation targeting the clandestine chemical arsenal in Syria, French President Emmanuel Macron announced in an official statement early Saturday.

"I ordered the French armed forces to intervene tonight, as part of an international operation conducted in coalition with the United States of America and the United Kingdom and directed against the clandestine chemical arsenal of the Syrian regime," Macron said.

"Our response has been limited to the capabilities of the Syrian regime for the production and use of chemical weapons," he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump ordered an air strike against Syria last year to punish the government's another alleged use of chemical weapons against the civilians, in a move that he said has destroyed 20 percent of the Syrian air forces.

Activists and rebels in Syria claimed that Syrian forces used chlorine gas in the April 7 attack against the rebel-held town of Douma near Damascus. The Syrian government has denied the allegation and called the reports fake news that the West uses to justify its attacks on the country.