President Francois Hollande says French fighter jets destroyed a logistical depot used by Islamic State militants in northeastern Iraq. Video provided by Reuters Newslook
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.
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 wouldn't 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."
U.S. Central Command said Thursday that the U.S. military has conducted 176 airstrikes in Iraq since Aug. 8. On Wednesday, it hit a militant training camp southeast of Mosul and an ammunition stockpile southeast of Baghdad. It has also conducted a number of strikes this week in Iraq's Anbar province, near the strategic Haditha Dam.
On Monday, French Rafales and an ATL2 surveillance plane carried out its first reconnaissance missions over Iraq, military spokesman Col. Gilles Jaron said.
Contributing: Associated Press
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