France launches first airstrikes against Isis in Syria

  

Attacks announced by President Hollande’s office day before world leaders meet at UN in New York to discuss four-year Syrian war     

                             

                                   French president François Hollande

 French president François Hollande’s office said the operation to ‘fight the terrorist threat’ of Isis was coordinated with regional partners

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France has carried out its first airstrikes against Islamic State in Syria after nearly three weeks of surveillance flights.

The office of President François Hollande said on Sunday the strikes were aimed at targets identified during surveillance missions conducted since 8 September.

The operation to “fight the terrorist threat” of Isis was coordinated with regional partners, a statement said, adding: “We will strike any time our national security is at stake.”

In an announcement earlier this month, France cited self-defence as its rationale for planning the strikes, while ruling out ground operations. French planes are already involved in airstrikes against jihadis in neighbouring Iraq.

The announcement of the operations in Syria came the day before Hollande joins world leaders for the start of the UN general assembly in New York, where the four-year Syrian war is expected to be at the centre of debate.

Sunday’s statement from the French presidency called for a “comprehensive response [to the] Syrian chaos”, saying: “Civilian populations must be protected against all forms of violence, that of Daesh (Isis) and other terrorist groups, but also against the murderous bombings of [Syrian president] Bashar al-Assad.”

Iran and Russia have given strong backing to Assad, regarded by the US and European countries including France as the instigator of a civil war that has left 250,000 dead and large parts of his country in the hands of Isis.

Russia, meanwhile, has rankled the west by strengthening its military presence in Syria in recent weeks.

Ahead of the UN gathering, the US secretary of state, John Kerry, met his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, on Saturday to discuss Syria.

Washington refuses to accept a peace process that would leave Assad in power and so has backed and armed small “moderate” rebel groups. But that strategy appeared in tatters after the Pentagon admitted the latest US-trained fighters to cross into Syria had given a quarter of their equipment to al-Qaida.