Syria: the French army carried out strikes against Daesh “sites”

French forces still engaged in the “fight against terrorism”. The Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu indicated this Tuesday on his X account that “targeted strikes” had been carried out by France against “Daesh sites” on Syrian soil, as part of an international coalition fighting against terrorist organization.

An operation organized a few weeks after the fall of the regime of Bashar al-Assad, overthrown by a coalition of radical Islamists, and the establishment of a new power, opening a period of upheaval which leaves experts fearing a rise in power of the Islamic State (IS) in the region.

“Our armies remain committed to the fight against terrorism in the Levant,” assured Sébastien Lecornu, from Lebanon where he is with the head of French diplomacy Jean-Noël Barrot to spend New Year’s Eve with the French soldiers of the Force of United Nations (UNIFIL). He specified that these strikes took place as part of the international coalition “Operation Inherent Resolve”, “since 2014 in Iraq and 2015 in Syria”. It brings together 80 countries and five international organizations, according to the website of the Ministry of the Armed Forces.

“Commitment to the fight against Daesh remains resolute”

Although Daesh was defeated in 2019, it still maintains small groups active on Syrian territory, and also remains present in Iraq. Experts fear their resurgence, with the possibility of seeing jihadist attacks multiply, in light of the period of instability which has begun in Syria. Its former leader Bashar al-Assad fell on December 8, after a lightning offensive by a coalition led by the Islamists of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). The end of a dictatorial regime welcomed by France, which called for a “peaceful political transition”.

Sunday’s targeted attacks took place more precisely within the framework of the French component of this coalition, Operation Chammal in the Levant, for its part underlined the French army on its X account, evoking strikes “against two Daesh installations in Syria. “The commitment of France and the Coalition partner countries Operation Inherent Resolve in the fight against Daesh remains resolute,” she assures.

“Rafale (fighter planes) and Reaper (drones) delivered a total of seven bombs to two Daesh military objectives in central Syria,” the Ministry of the Armed Forces told AFP.

According to the website of the Ministry of the Armed Forces, 600 French soldiers are “deployed to the Levant” as part of Operation Chammal. On the equipment side, 10 Rafales are deployed on air bases in the region and in the United Arab Emirates, as well as aircraft which provide reinforcement.

French forces “support the local forces engaged against Daesh”, both through “air and maritime military support to the Iraqi Security Forces” and by advising the Iraqi command “in its mission to stabilize the region”.

The United States, a member of the international coalition fighting ISIS, has also announced operations against the organization’s positions in recent weeks. In mid-December, they indicated that they had doubled the number of their military personnel in Syria in recent months as part of the anti-jihadist fight, bringing them to around 2,000 people. The American Central Command (Centcom) indicated that it wanted to ensure that Daesh “does not seek to take advantage of the situation to reconstitute itself in central Syria”.

On December 23, the forces of the same Centcom killed two jihadists and injured another in an airstrike in eastern Syria, which also destroyed a truck full of weapons, they indicated the next day on X They reiterated their desire to continue, alongside their international partners, “to disrupt and reduce efforts by terrorists to plan, organize and carry out attacks against civilians and military personnel of the United States, ours. allies and our partners across the the region and beyond.