Al-anwar Newspaper English news in Australia
The French army on Sunday bombed an oil supply centre held by the Islamic State (IS) group in eastern Syria, according to Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.
“We intervened in Syria… yesterday evening with a strike on an oil supply centre near Deir Ezzor on the border between Iraq and Syria,” Le Drian told journalists on the sidelines of a forum on African peace and security in Dakar, Senegal.
Earlier this month, French President François Hollande announced the deployment of the Charles de Gaulle, France’s only aircraft carrier, in the fight against the IS group in Iraq and Syria. The French carrier had previously been deployed in the Persian Gulf from February to April this year, conducting between 15 and 20 flights per day, according to the French military.
France also has 12 jet fighters based in the United Arab Emirates and Jordan involved in the operations.
It was France’s third wave of strikes in Syria since President Francois Hollande decided in September to join the campaign there against ISIS.
Hollande on Thursday said operations would be expanded to include “all those sites from which terrorists could threaten our territory.”
The president also said France would deploy its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier — the flagship of the French navy — to boost operations against IS in Syria and Iraq.
