France on Sunday night launched what it described as “massive” air strikes on the Islamic State’s de-facto capital in Syria, in the aftermath of vicious terrorist attacks on its capital Paris that left 129 dead and almost 400 injured.
The French government claimed the airstrikes destroyed a jihadi training camp and a munitions dump in the city of Raqqa, where the Paris attacks were said to have been planned.
It will be recalled that French President Francoise Hollande had vowed in a nation-wide broadcast, just after the coordinated attacks on Paris, that his country would wage a “merciless” war on terrorism.
A French Defence Ministry statement said twelve aircraft including 10 fighter jets dropped a total of 20 bombs, AP reported.
The jets launched from sites in Jordan and the Persian Gulf, in coordination with US forces.
France’s Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius defended his country’s actions in launching attacks on IS targets in Syria on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Turkey.
He said: “It was normal to take the initiative and action and France had the legitimacy to do so. We did it already in the past, we have conducted new airstrikes in Raqqa today (Sunday).
“One cannot be attacked harshly, and you know the drama that is happening in Paris, without being present and active.”
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