France adds more fighter jets in fight against IS

(Baonghean.vn) – On Wednesday, November 19, Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announced that France will participate more in the fight against the Islamic State organization IS. Mr. Jean-Yves Le Drian said that France will send 6 more Mirage bombers to Jordan.

On September 19, France launched the “Chammal” operation to stop the development of the IS organization in Iraq. France has mobilized 9 Rafale bombers to Al-Dhafra in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). If 6 Mirage bombers are sent to Jordan, this will help triple the ability to conduct airstrikes in Iraq. However, the French government said that the deployment of aircraft to Jordan also needs the approval of the Jordanian government.

A Mirage aircraft on a mission on March 30, 2011. Photo: Gerard Julien

The Ministry of Defense revealed that Rafale aircraft carried out an airstrike on IS positions between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. In a statement, the Ministry of Defense said, “Two French Rafale aircraft, each equipped with four AASM bombs, identified a series of Daesh (the Arabic acronym for IS) trenches in the city of Kirkuk, Iraq. The coalition carried out simultaneous strikes in the identified area.” On November 14, the French air force also carried out a “lightning strike” in the area. It is understood that the November 14 airstrike was completely unplanned. On that day, the aircraft were only tasked with reconnaissance.

In Iraq, France is leading air strikes to support the Iraqi army and the Peshmerga, a Kurdish fighting force, in the fight against IS. Since declaring the creation of a caliphate in June, the jihadists have seized large swaths of territory north, east and west of Baghdad. Last week, the Iraqi army announced it had taken control of the entire city of Baiji, near Iraq’s largest oil refinery.

Chu Thanh– According to LeMonde November 19