“Rafale (fighter planes) and Reaper (drones) delivered a total of seven bombs to two Daesh military objectives in central Syria,” the Ministry of the Armed Forces told AFP.
Published on 31/12/2024 17:14
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France struck two positions of the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria as part of the international anti-jihadist coalition, the French Minister of the Armed Forces said on Tuesday, December 31. This is the first operation of this type in two years.“On Sunday, French air assets carried out targeted strikes against Daesh sites [l’EI en arabe] 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 in charge of maintaining peace there.
“Of the [avions de chasse] Gust and [drones] Reapers delivered a total of seven bombs to two Daesh military targets in central Syria.the Ministry of the Armed Forces told AFP. The last French strike on ISIS dated from September 2022.
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 and Iraq.
It deploys some 600 men there, according to figures from the Ministry of the Armed Forces. But the system has been reinforced several times since 2015 by the aircraft carrier's naval strike group Charles de Gaulle.
The fall of Bashar Al-Assad in early December 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).
