France Fires Back: French Jets Target ISIS, Drop 20 Bombs In Syria After Attacks In Paris
The French weren’t going to just sit by and allow ISIS to take credit for their mass attacks in Paris and get away with it without punishment. On Sunday, French jets struck back by flying over Syria and launching a massive attack against them and dropping at least 20 bombs.
As reported by Fox News, the French fighter jets are just the first step in direct retaliation for Friday’s attacks in Paris that left 129 dead and 352 wounded.
On Sunday, the fighter jets dropped the 20 bombs on a command and control center, munitions depot, jihadi recruitment center, and ISIS training camp. All of those were located in the city of Raqqa in Syria.
The French Defense Ministry has confirmed the attack by the French fighter jets.
It was indeed a “massive” anti-ISIS raid, which was launched from the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. The raid was actually carried out in coordination with forces from the United States military.
#Chammal une dizaine d’aéronefs ont détruit centre de commandement et camp d’entraînement #daech à Raqqah en #Syrie. pic.twitter.com/nb9FXXyOvJ
— Defense.gouv (@Defense_gouv) November 15, 2015
Not ironically enough, the strikes happened on the exact same day that a large ammunition shipment arrived from the U.S. by land to Syrian-Arab coalition forces in Syria. Up until now, the United States has been the main conductor of coalition attacks on any ISIS territory.
The Americans have also been almost totally responsible for all coalition bombings inside of Syria on ISIS forces. According to RT, there was a statement released by the French Defense Ministry that detailed the first targets destroyed in the bombings.
“The first target destroyed was used by Daesh (a derogatory Arabic acronym for IS) as a command post, jihadist recruitment center and arms and munitions depot. The second held a terrorist training camp.”
This attack by French fighter jets is not one that is overly surprising, even though it was quite massive and very personal. After the scale of the Paris attacks on Friday and the amount of death and carnage left by ISIS, no-one is entirely shocked by what France has done in retaliation.
Islamic State has claimed and taken sole responsibility for the Paris attacks, and the French government almost immediately vowed that they would not go unpunished. France vowed that they would battle the terrorist group with no mercy.
French fighter jets take off on mission to strike ISIS targets in Syria. https://t.co/PqCbolxVcV pic.twitter.com/c58OyWrE0I
— ABC News (@ABC) November 15, 2015
On Friday, French President Francois Hollande said that the coordinated attacks in Paris were seen as an “act of war” by the Islamic State.
In all, Sunday’s massive air raid included 12 aircraft, which consisted of 10 French fighter jets. France is wasting no time in doing what needs to be done in retaliation for the Islamist spree of deadly attacks in Paris.
An online statement was released by ISIS after the Paris tragedy, and they came down hard on the city of light. ISIS called Paris “the carrier of the banner of the Cross in Europe.” They went on to state that the eight attackers from ISIS were “brothers wrapped in explosive belts and armed with machine rifles.”
The Telegraph reported that an international manhunt is underway for a “dangerous” suspect in the Paris attacks of terrorism. French police unknowingly allowed him to escape, and now a huge search is taking place for Salah Abdeslam whose brother, Ibrahim, was one of the suicide bombers.
Nothing of suspicion was found in his car after being stopped by police, and he was allowed to go on. It was later revealed that a Volkswagon Polo was linked to Abdeslam and it was known that he is now wanted.
The Paris attacks have hurt a nation and the world, but France is not going to take them without fighting back. Sunday’s anti-ISIS raid with French fighter jets dropping 20 bombs in Syria is only the beginning as they will not let this stand without punishment.
[Image via Twitter – Defense.gouv]
