The assault is the primary such operation for the reason that ousting of the previous Syrian President Bashar Assad earlier in December
The French air pressure has launched airstrikes towards Islamic State (IS, former ISIS) targets in Syria over the weekend, Protection Minister Sebastien Lecornu confirmed on Tuesday. It’s the first such growth for the reason that ousting of the previous Syrian President Bashar Assad by a coalition of armed opposition teams led by Islamist motion Hayat Tahrir-al-Sham (HTS).
“On Sunday, French air belongings carried out focused strikes towards Daesh websites on Syrian soil,” the minister stated in a press release on social platform X, utilizing an Arab acronym for ISIS. He additionally revealed a video exhibiting the navy operation. “Our armies stay engaged within the struggle towards terrorism” within the area, Lecornu stated.
A brief clip launched by the minister begins with photos of a French navy pilot getting ready for the mission adopted by aerial footage demonstrating the bombing of what seems to be a small camp within the desert. The protection ministry in Paris advised AFP that French Rafale fighter jets and American Reaper drones “dropped a complete of seven bombs on two navy targets belonging to Daesh in central Syria.”
Nos armées restent engagées dans la lutte contre le terrorisme au Levant.Elles contribuent à la coalition internationale “Operation Inherent Resolve” (OIR), depuis 2014 en Irak et 2015 en Syrie.Dimanche, des moyens aériens français ont procédé à des frappes ciblées contre des… pic.twitter.com/uwzOmcJDce
— Sébastien Lecornu (@SebLecornu) December 31, 2024
France has been a part of Operation Inherent Resolve – a US-led coalition aimed toward combating terrorism in Syria and Iraq – since 2014 for operations in Iraq and since 2015 for operations in Syria. Washington has maintained a navy presence in Syria’s oil-rich provinces over a number of years.
In mid-December, the Pentagon stated that the variety of US navy personnel stationed on the bases within the Center Jap nation rose to 2,000, up from the beforehand reported determine of 900. The rise got here “in gentle of the scenario in Syria and the numerous curiosity,” the Pentagon spokesman, Air Drive Main Common Pat Ryder, stated at the moment.
Bashar Assad’s authorities had repeatedly accused the US of deploying its troops to the Center Jap nation illegally and maintained that America was primarily “stealing oil” from the nation. In August 2022, Syrian and Russian officers claimed that US-affiliated entities have been illegally exporting as much as 66,000 barrels of oil day by day from the nation.
In early December, Assad was pressured to depart his place as president and flee the nation, in the end looking for asylum in Russia. The transfer was prompted by a sudden offensive of a number of armed opposition teams led by HTS, which captured huge territories throughout Syria in a matter of days and ultimately seized the capital, Damascus.
