French leadership and military didn’t take long to get into retaliation mode, launching twelve aircraft — ten of them fighter jets — from locations in both Jordan and the United Arab Emirates and dropped munitions on the would-be ISIS capital, Raqqa, in Syria, less than 48 hours after the horrific attacks on Paris that left more than 120 people and almost 400 wounded.
According to the Associated Press, the targets included command and control centers, a recruitment center, a training camp and weapons depot.
This from Foxtrot Alpha:
These strikes come as the U.S. has moved to share highly-detailed targeting information with the French military, which could be used for immediate retaliatory airstrikes in Syria. Currently six French Mirage 2000s are based in Jordan and six Rafales in the UAE, and France’s only aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, packed with 20 Rafales and Super Etendards, is just arriving in the region. This French air combat force will likely build even larger in the coming days.
On the “intelligence sharing”, from the Wall Street Journal:
Defense officials said Secretary of Defense Ash Carter has been an advocate of easing restrictions on intelligence sharing with France.
After Mr. Carter spoke Sunday with French Minister of Defense Jean-Yves Le Drian, their second call since the attacks in Paris on Friday night, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said the defense chiefs “agreed on concrete steps the U.S. and French militaries should take to further intensify our close cooperation in prosecuting a sustained campaign” against Islamic State.