Paris: Joining US forces acting in Iraqi skies, France conducted its first airstrikes on Friday against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group, destroying a logistics depot, Iraqi and French officials said.
Rafale fighter jets accompanied by support planes struck in northern Iraq on Friday morning, and the target was “entirely destroyed”, President Francois Hollande said. The four airstrikes on an Iraqi military installation overrun by the militants hit a munitions and fuel depot, a French military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss operational details.
Iraq’s military spokesman said dozens of extremist fighters were killed.
“Other operations will follow in the coming days with the same goal — to weaken this terrorist organisation and come to the aid of the Iraqi authorities,” Hollande said. “There are always risks in taking up a responsibility. I reduced the risks to a minimum.”
Qasim Al Mousawi, spokesman for the Iraqi military, said four French airstrikes hit near the town of Zumar, in an area that remains heavily contested by Isil fighters even though Iraqi and Kurdish security forces have managed to make headway nearby with the support of US airstrikes.
With the strikes, France becomes the first foreign country to publicly add military muscle to United States airstrikes against the group, which has drawn criticism around the world and in a unanimous UN Security Council resolution for its barbarity. Hollande, who said the airstrikes were requested by Iraq’s government, ruled out French troops on the ground.
The first French airstrikes in Iraq have added significance: France, one of America’s oldest allies, was among the most vocal critics of the decision of US President George W. Bush to conduct military action in 2003 that toppled Saddam Hussain.
Last year, France was ready to join possible US military action against President Bashar Al Assad’s force in Syria, before US President Barack Obama stopped short. French authorities in recent weeks have suggested that the inaction there has fostered the development of the militants.
The strikes come at a time when polls show Hollande is the most unpopular French president in decades — mainly for his handling of France’s economic difficulties. But he has drawn higher marks from the French public in the international arena, including by helping drive Al Qaida-linked militants from northern Mali last year and in central African Republic in recent months.
US Central Command said on Thursday the US military has conducted 176 airstrikes in Iraq since August 8. On Wednesday, it hit a militant training camp southeast of Mosul and an ammunition stockpile southeast of Baghdad. It also conducted a number of strikes last week in Iraq’s Anbar province, near the strategic Haditha Dam.
The French airstrike took place while US General 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.
“The French were our very first ally and they are there again for us,” Dempsey told reporters travelling with him in Normandy. “It just reminds me why these relationships really matter.”
He stressed that France wouldn’t go beyond airstrikes in support of the Iraqi military or Kurdish Peshmerga forces, and wouldn’t attack targets in Syria, where Isil has also captured territory.
France’s military said jets began flying reconnaissance missions over Iraq on Monday.
