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| This image provided Friday, Sept.19, 2014 by the French Army's video and photo department ECPAD shows the destruction of a munitions and fuel depot overrun by the militants in Iraq. Joining U.S. forces acting in Iraqi skies, French fighter jets struck Friday against the militant Islamic State group, destroying a logistics depot, Iraqi and French officials said. |
PARIS (AP) -- France is back at America's side in conducting military strikes in Iraq.
More
than a decade after spurning President George W. Bush's war against
Saddam Hussein, France on Friday became the first country to join U.S.
forces pounding targets inside Iraq from the air in recent weeks - this
time in pursuit of militants of the Islamic State group.
Flying
from the United Arab Emirates, two French Rafale jets fired four
laser-guided bombs to destroy a weapons and fuel depot outside the
northern city of Mosul, part of the territory the militants have overrun
in Iraq and neighboring Syria, officials said.
An
Iraqi military spokesman said dozens of extremist fighters were killed
in the strikes. A French military official said a damage assessment had
not been completed, while showing reporters aerial images of targets
hit. Officials said it was at a former military installation seized by
the group.
One analyst said the French action
was more symbolic than substantive - France's military means in the
region are limited - but it could give political cover for other allies
to join in and show that the U.S. is not acting alone in a country still
sown with deadly violence 11 years after Saddam's ouster.
"We
are facing throat-cutters," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told
a meeting of the U.N. Security Council that was called to show support
for Iraq's government in battling the militants. "They rape, crucify and
decapitate. They use cruelty as a means of propaganda. Their aim is to
erase borders and to eradicate the rule of law and civil society."
For
all his political and economic troubles at home, French President
Francois Hollande has again showed he will use force to fight Islamic
militants to help a beleaguered government.
Other
such operations in Iraq would continue in coming days, Hollande said,
"with the same goal - to weaken this terrorist organization and come to
the aid of the Iraqi authorities."
"In no case
will there be French troops on the ground: This is only about planes
that, in liaison with Iraqi authorities (and) in coordination with our
allies, will allow for a weakening of the terrorist organization," he
said.
Hollande stressed that France's actions
were limited to supporting the Iraqi military or Kurdish Peshmerga
forces, and wouldn't involve targets in Syria.
Not
so long ago, coordinated French and U.S. military strikes in Iraq might
have been unthinkable. But feeding off sectarian strife in Syria and
Iraq, the Islamic State group has destabilized the region and become a
lure for jihad-minded youths from France, elsewhere in Europe, and
beyond.
Hollande says France is operating
independently in Iraq, based on a request for airstrikes from Baghdad
and in coordination with its allies. The U.S. Central Command said
Thursday the U.S. military has conducted 176 airstrikes in Iraq since
Aug. 8.
Broadly unpopular at home, Hollande
has nonetheless drawn praise for a muscular foreign policy. Iraq is the
third country in which he has authorized firepower: French troops
largely purged al-Qaida-linked militants from Mali in 2011, and have
sought to end sectarian violence in Central African Republic.
In
2011, France and the U.S., as well as Britain, did the heavy lifting in
the NATO-led airstrikes in Libya. Last year, France was ready to join
possible U.S. military action against President Bashar Assad's forces in
Syria, before President Barack Obama stopped short. In recent weeks,
French authorities have ruefully suggested that the U.S. inaction
fostered the rise of jihadists in the region.
On
Monday, Hollande hosted U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and top
diplomats from more than two dozen countries that pledged to help Iraq
fight the extremist group, which has drawn widespread condemnation for
its brutality - including the beheadings of Western hostages.
The
U.N. Security Council condemned the Islamic State group in a
presidential statement approved Friday by all 15 members in a session
chaired by Kerry.
The statement expressed
"deep outrage" at the killing, kidnapping, rape and torture of Iraqis
and citizens of other countries by the Islamic State group. It noted
that some of those acts might constitute war crimes and crimes against
humanity.
Since January, at least 8,500
civilians have been killed and more than 16,000 wounded in Iraq,
according to U.N. estimates given to the council by Nikolay Mladenov,
the top U.N. envoy in Iraq. Since June, he added, the toll had been
4,700 killed and 6,500 wounded.
Iraq's new,
foreign minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, called for military, economic and
financial assistance to help Baghdad fight the Islamic State group.
The
fall of Mosul on June 10 was a turning point in Iraq's war against the
group. The U.S.-trained Iraqi military, under pressure for months by
small-scale attacks, buckled quickly when the militants advanced on the
city.
The first French airstrikes in Iraq have
additional significance: France, one of America's oldest allies, was
among the most vocal critics of Bush's decision to conduct military
action in 2003 that toppled Saddam.
Qassim
al-Moussawi, a spokesman for Iraq's military, said the French airstrikes
hit the town of Zumar, killing dozens of the group's fighters. Hollande
said France has taken precautions to prevent civilian casualties, and
the French military official said the depot was located in a remote
area.
Zumar and surrounding towns have
remained heavily contested by Islamic State fighters, even as Iraqi and
Kurdish security forces have managed to make headway in nearby regions
with the support of U.S. airstrikes.
The
French bombs fell within minutes of a ceremony in which Gen. Martin
Dempsey, the U.S. military commander, laid flowers at a Normandy
cemetery honoring thousands of U.S. troops who died in France in World
War II. Dempsey said he was told of the attack by French counterpart
Gen. Pierre de Villiers, and he praised the French action.
"The
French were our very first ally and they're with us again now," Dempsey
told reporters traveling with him in Normandy. "It just reminds me why
these relationships really matter."
At Friday
prayers in the Iraqi holy city of Karbala, a representative for the most
revered Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, said foreign
help in the fight against the Islamic State group should not lead to a
violation of Iraq's sovereignty.
"The
international efforts on this regard should not be used as a pretext to
allow the foreigners to control the course of events in Iraq, especially
in the military field," Abdul-Mahdi al-Karbalaie said. "It is true that
Iraq is in need for the help of brothers and friends in combating the
black terrorism, yet safeguarding its sovereignty and independence
should be highly considered. This should be taken care of."
France
is conducting the operations in Iraq from French Air Base 104 inside Al
Dhafra base near Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
French jets began flying reconnaissance missions Monday over Iraq.
The
base, with about 750 French service personnel and six Rafales, is 1,700
kilometers (1,050 miles) from Mosul, meaning that the planes need
refueling in flight to strike in Iraq.
For
future operations, France could also mobilize its only aircraft carrier,
the Charles de Gaulle, which is docked in southeastern France and would
need at least five days to reach the eastern Mediterranean. The ship
can carry about 30 planes including Rafales, Super-Etendards and
U.S.-built E-2C Hawkeye surveillance aircraft.
Retired
French Gen. Vincent Desportes said the French involvement, alongside
far greater U.S. firepower, was more symbolic than militarily
significant. But he said it could have a "snowball effect" by drawing in
allies such as Australia or Canada to think more about participation.
"Three
or four (French) airstrikes doesn't change much," said Desportes. "But
it changes things in that it shows that the Americans are no longer
alone."
He also pointed to France's tradition
of supporting the U.S. in military ventures, including the deployment of
more than 20,000 troops in the U.S.-led Gulf War in 1991.
"Aside
from the case of the Iraq war - which was a stupidity - we have always
been alongside the Americans," Desportes said. "In this case, it seems
to me very good that we're cooperating."
