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| France Conducts Its First Airstrikes Against ISIS in Iraq | France Conducts Its First Airstrikes Against ISIS in Iraq |
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| PARIS — French fighter jets embarked on their first airstrikes against militants of the Islamic State, President François Hollande said Friday, one day after he pledged to join the United States in its offensive against the group in Iraq. | |
| Rafale planes struck a logistics depot belonging to the Islamic State, also known by the acronyms ISIS and ISIL, in northeastern Iraq, Mr. Hollande said in a statement. "The objective was hit and entirely destroyed,” the statement said. | |
| Mr. Hollande said other operations would take place in the coming days. | Mr. Hollande said other operations would take place in the coming days. |
| Remarking on the violent tactics employed by the Sunni militants, who have conquered wide swaths territory in Iraq and Syria, Mr. Hollande said Thursday at a news conference in Paris that the group had been able to grow partly because the international community had failed to intervene. But he emphasized that France’s role would be limited to providing air support, including strikes, in Iraq. | Remarking on the violent tactics employed by the Sunni militants, who have conquered wide swaths territory in Iraq and Syria, Mr. Hollande said Thursday at a news conference in Paris that the group had been able to grow partly because the international community had failed to intervene. But he emphasized that France’s role would be limited to providing air support, including strikes, in Iraq. |
| He indicated that France would not expand its mission into Syria, and French officials have made it clear that the government does not want to give the impression that it supports the Syrian government, led by President Bashar al-Assad. | He indicated that France would not expand its mission into Syria, and French officials have made it clear that the government does not want to give the impression that it supports the Syrian government, led by President Bashar al-Assad. |
| Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who was visiting the Normandy beaches where Allied soldiers landed on D-Day and a nearby military cemetery on Friday, praised the French airstrikes, The Associated Press reported. “The French were our very first ally and they are there again for us,” he was quoted as saying by The A.P. | |
| The strikes come as Mr. Hollande seeks to reinvigorate his presidency, which is suffering from France’s 10 percent unemployment rate and flat economic growth. Mr. Hollande’s approval rating of 13 percent makes him the most unpopular president in recent memory. | |
| France was a vociferous opponent of the American-led effort to overthrow Saddam Hussein in 2003, and analysts say the French public remains wary of sustained Western intervention in the region. Mr. Hollande, for his part, has framed the fight against the Islamic State as important for French national security. |