France said on Friday its jets had launched strikes inside Iraq for the first time since the country promised to join military action against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria insurgents who have taken over parts of the country.
“This morning at 9:40 (0740 GMT) our Rafale jets launched a first strike against a logistics depot of the terrorists,” said a statement from President Francois Hollande’s office on Friday shortly after the raids.
His office said the target was in northeastern Iraq, without specifying exactly where, only adding: “The objective was hit and completely destroyed.”
French defence ministry sources said two jets dropped laser-guided GBU-12 bombs in the Mosul area.
Kurdish military spokesman Halgord Hekmat identified the location as Tal Mus, between the city of Mosul and Zumar.
“We are very happy that France started its raids,” he told AFP.
France, as well as Britain, had already sent aircraft into Iraq’s skies for surveillance missions but Friday’s strike was its first against the jihadists.
US aircraft have carried out more than 170 strikes since August 8 but President Barack Obama has been keen to build a broad international coalition.
Jihadists who had already controlled large swathes of land in neighbouring Syria led a militant offensive that took the city of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest, on June 10.
French President Francois Hollande said that France would join the United States in conducting air strikes against Islamic State — but only in Iraq.
“As soon as we have identified targets, we will act… within a short timeframe,” he vowed.
US President Barack Obama on Thursday hailed France for signing off on air strikes in Iraq.
US warplanes meanwhile hit an ISIS training camp in Iraq in their first strike not directly supporting Iraqi or Kurdish forces as Washington cranked up pressure on the extremist group.
Hitting back in the propaganda war, the jihadists posted their latest video of a Western hostage, British journalist John Cantlie.
Unlike previous grisly postings of two American journalists and a British aid worker being beheaded, Cantlie was only shown speaking to camera in the style of a news report.
Washington estimates that IS has 20,000 to 31,000 fighters, including many foreigners, and there are concerns that returning jihadists could carry out attacks in Western countries.
Australia said it had detained 15 people in connection with a plot to behead random civilians, in the country’s largest ever counter-terrorism raids.
(AFP, Reuters, Al-Akhbar)
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