France carried out strikes against Daesh positions

France has struck positions of the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria as part of the international anti-jihadist coalition, French Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu said on Tuesday. This is the first operation of this type since the fall of Bashar al-Assad. “On Sunday, French air assets carried out targeted strikes against Daesh (IS in Arabic, Editor’s note) sites on Syrian soil”declared Sébastien Lecornu on X. “Our armies remain committed to the fight against terrorism in the Levant”he added from Lebanon where he is with the head of French diplomacy Jean-Noël Barrot to spend New Year's Eve with the French soldiers of the United Nations Force (UNIFIL).

“Rafale (fighter planes) and Reaper (drones) delivered a total of 7 bombs on two Daesh military objectives in central Syria”the Ministry of the Armed Forces told AFP. France has participated in the international coalition Inherent Resolve since 2014 in Iraq and 2015 in Syria, through Operation Chammal deployed on bases in the region, notably in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The fall of Bashar al-Assad was caused by a lightning offensive by Syrian rebel forces, led by a radical Sunni group.

It leads to a total recomposition of Syria and also raises fears of a resurgence of the activities of IS, which historically remained very active in Iraq and Syria, even after the end of its caliphate (2014-2019). In mid-December, the United States announced that in recent months it had doubled the number of its military personnel in Syria as part of the anti-jihadist fight, bringing them to around 2,000 people. The US Central Command (Centcom) has indicated that it wants to ensure that ISIS “does not seek to take advantage of the situation to reconstitute itself in central Syria”. Washington also claims to deploy some 2,500 soldiers in Iraq.