After the brutal bloodshed in Paris on November 13 due to eight ISIS militants, France has taken drastic measures to retaliate and find the source of the terrorists’ regime.
French fighter jets launched their biggest raids in Syria to date targeting the Islamic State’s stronghold in Raqqa - the site that ISIS has called the capital of its so-called “caliphate.” - just two days after the group claimed coordinated attacks in Paris that more than 130 people were brutally murdered by shootings and suicide bombers in six locations throughout the city.
“The raid ... including 10 fighter jets, was launched simultaneously from the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. Twenty bombs were dropped,” the statement said, adding that the mission had taken place this evening.
The sites that France is targeting include an ISIS command center, a recruitment center, an ammunition storage base and a training camp for ISIS militants, according to Mickael Soria, the press adviser for France’s defense minister.
The sites included the Bataclan concert hall, where 100 were held hostage, and more than 80 killed, the Stade de France, where a Germany-France football (soccer) game was being held, as well as a smattering of restaurants where unsuspecting patrons dined.
French President Francois Hollande called ISIS’ moves an “an act of war,” and it seems that France is treating it that way with this initial airstrike.
He said the attackers wanted “to scare us and fill us with dread”, but warned France’s retribution would be swift and unflinching.
An official was quoted by Associated Press as saying the strikes were ‘massive’ and had destroyed two jihadi sites in Raqqa.
Activists inside Syria have suggested that no civilian casualties have been sustained in the Raqqa bombings. Water supplies and electricity have reportedly been cut as a result of the air strikes, with activists claiming there has been 'panic' inside the city.
This story is still developing.
