France to Redeploy Aircraft Carrier to Gulf against IS

Paris, 08 Syawal 1437/14 July 2016 (MINA) – France’s President Francois Hollande said Wednesday that his country is to redeploy its aircraft carrier, Charles de Gaulle, to the Gulf region in order to bolster the fight against the so-called Islamic State (IS), KUNA reported.

Speaking at the French Defense Ministry’s “Bastille Day” celebrations, Hollande vowed to up the tempo in France’s commitment to defeat the terrorist group in Syria and Iraq, after being squeezed recently by Coalition forces and Iraqi offensives that recaptured strategic areas in central Iraq.

“France will intensify efforts to support the Iraqis as they try to recapture Mosul and would send more military advisors to help Iraqi forces defeat IS,” Hollande said.

The Charles de Gaulle has already served in the Indian Ocean and in the Gulf to attack IS targets and spent several months in the region after terror attacks here last year.

France is also operating air raids out of bases it has been allowed to use in Jordan and the UAE, using Mirage and Rafale fighter bombers.

French air operations against IS account for about five percent of all allied raids against the terrorist group, which has retaliated against France by carrying out terror operations here, most recently in November 2015, when IS-affiliated terrorists killed 130 people and wounded over 400 in a spate of shootings and bombings in and around the French capital. (T/R07/R01)

Mi’raj Islami News Agency (MINA)