French fighter jets launch first air strikes on IS in Iraq
Written by : Mohamed Abdel Fattah
Sep19, 2014
France carried out its first airstrikes in Iraq on Friday, hitting a logistics depot held by the Islamic State extremist group, French President Francois Hollande announced.
A statement from Hollande's office read: "This morning, at 9.40am, our Rafale aircraft carried out a first attack against a logistics center of the terrorist organization Daesh [Isis] in the north-east of Iraq. The target was hit and entirely destroyed. Other operations will be carried out in the days to come."
The target was near Tall Mouss in the Zoumar sector of northern Iraq. The French aircraft are based at Al-Dhafra, near Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
The strikes came after a night of violence in the Iraqi capital. The Islamic State again demonstrated its capability to target mostly Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad.
Suicide bombers and mortar fire struck the Shiite district of Kadhimiyah overnight, officials said. Later, at least 17 people were killed in three explosions in other Shiite areas of the capital, according to an Associated Press count.
The United States resumed air strikes in Iraq in August for the first time since the 2011 withdrawal of the last U.S. troops, fearful the militants would break the country up and use it as a base for attacks on the West.
The US president, Barack Obama, previously praised Hollande's decision to join the campaign against Isis, also called Isil. "Today the United States continues to build a broad international coalition to degrade and ultimately destroy the terrorist group known as Isil. As part of the air campaign France will join in strikes against Isil in Iraq," he said.
Obama pledged last week to establish a coalition to defeat ISIS fighters in both Iraq and Syria, plunging the United States into two separate civil wars in which nearly every country in the Middle East has a stake.
Iraqi President Fuad Masum said he hoped the Paris meeting would bring a "quick response" to jihadists who have declared a caliphate or Islamic state ruled under Sharia law in the heart of the Middle East.
Massoum said ISIL fighters were responsible for some of the worst atrocities committed in Iraq's history.
"We should spend more efforts, and therefore we ask to continue the air strikes against the terrorist positions. We will not give them any safe haven," Massoum added.
ISIS fighters set off alarms across the Middle East since June when they swept across northern Iraq, seizing cities, slaughtering prisoners, proclaiming a caliphate to rule over all Muslims and ordering non-Sunnis to convert or die.
"If this group installs itself in Iraq, this will create of a lot of problems in Iraq, the region and the world," Massoum said. "We must try to be helped by other countries so there is international mobilization against this group that wants to install itself in Iraq and from there unleash itself on the world."
Hollande told reporters on Thursday, however, that France would not go beyond airstrikes in support of the Iraqi military or Kurdish Peshmerga forces, and wouldn't attack targets in Syria, where ISIL is also operating.
last week ,Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that the US offered to discuss a coordinated effort with Iran against Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS or ISIL), a common foe in the region, in the midst of an escalating campaign of violence that continues to claim lives across Iraq in Syria.
The Islamic State group, which has taken over large areas in northern and western Iraq as well as eastern Syria.
The state-run FARS News agency reports Khamenei said he rejected any cooperation because "they have a corrupt intention and stained hands."
Iranian officials have generally viewed the U.S. aerial offensive against Islamic State as a means to bolster Washington’s military presence in the region.
Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday that the Obama administration would keep the door open to confidential communications with Iran on the security crisis in Iraq, despite sarcastic criticism from Iran’s supreme leader.
Persian Gulf states Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates have reportedly volunteered to conduct airstrikes alongside US forces. The Saudis have also pressured the US to give Syrian rebels surface-to-air antiaircraft weapons, but the Obama administration has thus far refused.
Sources
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29277630
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/french-fighter-jets-strike-islamic-state-supply-depot-in-northeastern-iraq/2014/09/19/d260dda7-330c-4c86-a24b-658158f6b0ed_story.html
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/19/france-bombs-isis-depot-iraq-islamic-state
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/09/19/french-airstrike-isil/15873653/
Sep19, 2014
France carried out its first airstrikes in Iraq on Friday, hitting a logistics depot held by the Islamic State extremist group, French President Francois Hollande announced.
A statement from Hollande's office read: "This morning, at 9.40am, our Rafale aircraft carried out a first attack against a logistics center of the terrorist organization Daesh [Isis] in the north-east of Iraq. The target was hit and entirely destroyed. Other operations will be carried out in the days to come."
The target was near Tall Mouss in the Zoumar sector of northern Iraq. The French aircraft are based at Al-Dhafra, near Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
The strikes came after a night of violence in the Iraqi capital. The Islamic State again demonstrated its capability to target mostly Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad.
Suicide bombers and mortar fire struck the Shiite district of Kadhimiyah overnight, officials said. Later, at least 17 people were killed in three explosions in other Shiite areas of the capital, according to an Associated Press count.
The United States resumed air strikes in Iraq in August for the first time since the 2011 withdrawal of the last U.S. troops, fearful the militants would break the country up and use it as a base for attacks on the West.
The US president, Barack Obama, previously praised Hollande's decision to join the campaign against Isis, also called Isil. "Today the United States continues to build a broad international coalition to degrade and ultimately destroy the terrorist group known as Isil. As part of the air campaign France will join in strikes against Isil in Iraq," he said.
Obama pledged last week to establish a coalition to defeat ISIS fighters in both Iraq and Syria, plunging the United States into two separate civil wars in which nearly every country in the Middle East has a stake.
Iraqi President Fuad Masum said he hoped the Paris meeting would bring a "quick response" to jihadists who have declared a caliphate or Islamic state ruled under Sharia law in the heart of the Middle East.
Massoum said ISIL fighters were responsible for some of the worst atrocities committed in Iraq's history.
"We should spend more efforts, and therefore we ask to continue the air strikes against the terrorist positions. We will not give them any safe haven," Massoum added.
ISIS fighters set off alarms across the Middle East since June when they swept across northern Iraq, seizing cities, slaughtering prisoners, proclaiming a caliphate to rule over all Muslims and ordering non-Sunnis to convert or die.
"If this group installs itself in Iraq, this will create of a lot of problems in Iraq, the region and the world," Massoum said. "We must try to be helped by other countries so there is international mobilization against this group that wants to install itself in Iraq and from there unleash itself on the world."
Hollande told reporters on Thursday, however, that France would not go beyond airstrikes in support of the Iraqi military or Kurdish Peshmerga forces, and wouldn't attack targets in Syria, where ISIL is also operating.
last week ,Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that the US offered to discuss a coordinated effort with Iran against Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS or ISIL), a common foe in the region, in the midst of an escalating campaign of violence that continues to claim lives across Iraq in Syria.
The Islamic State group, which has taken over large areas in northern and western Iraq as well as eastern Syria.
The state-run FARS News agency reports Khamenei said he rejected any cooperation because "they have a corrupt intention and stained hands."
Iranian officials have generally viewed the U.S. aerial offensive against Islamic State as a means to bolster Washington’s military presence in the region.
Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday that the Obama administration would keep the door open to confidential communications with Iran on the security crisis in Iraq, despite sarcastic criticism from Iran’s supreme leader.
Persian Gulf states Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates have reportedly volunteered to conduct airstrikes alongside US forces. The Saudis have also pressured the US to give Syrian rebels surface-to-air antiaircraft weapons, but the Obama administration has thus far refused.
Sources
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29277630
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/french-fighter-jets-strike-islamic-state-supply-depot-in-northeastern-iraq/2014/09/19/d260dda7-330c-4c86-a24b-658158f6b0ed_story.html
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/19/france-bombs-isis-depot-iraq-islamic-state
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/09/19/french-airstrike-isil/15873653/
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