Terror in ParisFrance attacks ISIS targets in Raqqa, says more retaliatory actions will follow

Published 16 November 2015

French warplanes have launched thirty airstrikes on more than a dozen Islamic State targets in Raqqa, the capital of the self-proclaimed caliphate. The raids were France’s first – but likely not the last — retaliation to Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris. The French Ministry of Defense said in a statement that the sites attacked by the French planes had previously been identified on reconnaissance flights. The bombing raids were launched simultaneously from bases in the United Arab Emirates and Jordan in coordination with U.S. forces.

French warplanes have launched thirty airstrikes on more than a dozen Islamic State targets in Raqqa, the capital of the self-proclaimed caliphate. The raids were France’s first – but likely not the last — retaliation to Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris.

Residents told the Guardian that the targets bombed included the local ISIS political office, the southern entrance to the city, and a military camp.

“The French airstrikes were precise and targeted Daesh positions,” said one witness, using an Arabic acronym for ISIS. “They hit ISIS headquarters and camps that have ammunition warehouses as well as vehicles and [ISIS] members.”

Raqqa activists said ISIS members had distributed sweets in the city in after the terrorist attacks in Paris, and forced residents to give interviews in support of the attacks.

The French Ministry of Defense said in a statement that the sites attacked by the French planes had previously been identified on reconnaissance flights.

French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, said the bombing in Raqqa was an act of self-defense.

“France has always said that because she has been threatened and attacked by Daesh, it would be normal that she would react in the framework of self-defense. That’s what we did today with the trikes on Raqqa,” he said from the G20 summit in Turkey. “We can’t let Daesh act without reacting.”

The French Defense Ministry said that the bombing raids were launched simultaneously from bases in the United Arab Emirates and Jordan in coordination with U.S. forces.

France has played an active role in the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS, and is also one of the more hardline opponents of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad.

France’s interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, said the terrorist attack on Paris was masterminded by terrorist leaders within Syria, who “commissioned” operatives in Belgium to carry out the assault.

“A group situated in Syria … is organizing attacks [with] actors situated in Belgium who are not known to our services, and is inciting them to act on French territory, just like they incite them to act in other European cities,” Cazeneuve said in an interview on France 2 TV.