The French Campaign Begins: Hollande Launches “Massive Bombardment” Of ISIS Capital
Moments ago, reports began to surface on social media that the ISIS “capital” of Raqqa was under siege from the sky.
It wasn’t hard to guess whose planes were carrying out the strikes. As we noted ten days ago, in a statement by the French presidency following a meeting of its defense cabinet, the government said it would send its only aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle warship, to the eastern Mediterranean for operations against Isis in both Syria and Iraq. And as you might imagine, that’s not the only place Paris has warplanes stationed in the region.
Just yesterday we said that with the only French aircraft carrier already en route to Syria, meant to support to mission against Assad ISIS, France is oddly prepared for an all out attack to take out the Syrian president. Most importantly, it now has the outraged, incensed public’s blessing to do just that.
Sure enough, we just got confirmation that France, with the help of US intelligence, has commenced a “major” bombing campaign against Raqqa.
AFP are reporting a “massive bombardment” of the IS stronghold of Raqqa tonight by French jets, sourced to the Defence Ministry
And so it begins.
From WSj, earlier today:
The U.S. is expanding intelligence sharing with France and has agreed to speed the delivery of detailed targeting information in support of possible French retaliatory strikes against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq, officials said.
In response to Friday’s coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris, the U.S. has started sharing so-called “targeting packages” with France, identifying Islamic State targets for strikes by French warplanes. It also plans to roll back restrictions that impede intelligence sharing to make it easier for France to intensify its air campaign.
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