First French airstrikes in Iraq hit ISIL depot France carried out its first airstrikes in Iraq Friday, hitting a logistics depot held by the Islamic State extremist group, French President Francois Hollande announced. Hollande, in a statement issued by the Elysée presidential palace, said the target in northeastern Iraq was entirely destroyed in the attack by Rafale fighter jets. It was the first public acknowledgement by a foreign country that it had added its military muscle to U.S. airstrikes against Islamic State. The extremist group, also known as ISIL, has drawn worldwide condemnation, including a unanimous U.N. Security Council resolution, for such barbarous acts as the beheading of two U.S. journalists and a British aid worker. Other operations will follow in the coming days, Hollande said. He did not elaborate on what material was stored at the depot or its exact location. Hollande told reporters on Thursday, however, that France would not go beyond airstrikes in support of the Iraqi military or Kurdish Peshmerga forces, and wouldnt attack targets in Syria, where ISIL is also operating. The French airstrike took place while U.S. Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was in France for meetings with his counterpart, Gen. Pierre de Villiers. The two men were visiting an American military cemetery in Normandy, on the English Channel, when the French strike took place. Dempsey, who was told of the attack by de Villiers, praised the French action, saying it hit a target north of the Iraqi town of Mosul.. The French were our very first ally and they are there again for us, Dempsey said. It just reminds me why these relationships really matter.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 15:14:41 +0000
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