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FRANCE - SYRIa

French air strikes hit Islamic State oil depot

French fighter planes carried out an air strike on the Islamic State (IS) armed group in Syria on Sunday night, French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Monday. It was the first strike on a logistical target rather than a training camp.

French Rafale jets
French Rafale jets Reuters/ECPAD/
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The air strike hit an oil delivery depot near Deir Ezzor in on Syria's border with Iraq, Le Drian announced.

It is the third since President François Hollande agreed to join US-led air strikes on Syria, claiming that it was "self-defence" because IS trained fighters for attacks on French soil.

The previous two targeted camps where French and French-speaking fighters were being trained, according to government sources that said that several French jihadists may have been killed.

The depot received oil "to be delivered elsewhere", Le Drian said.

IS receives much of its income from oil sales.

The strikes were made on the basis of information gathered by reconnaissance flights, Le Drian said.

Hollande on Thursday said that air strikes could hit "any place from which terrorism could threaten out territory".

He also announced that the Charles De Gaulle aircraft carrier would soon be deployed in the region to increase the French military's capacity for strikes in Syria and Iraq.

 

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