News / France

France sending aircraft carrier to totally eliminate Daesh: Hollande

Monday, 16 November 2015 10:04 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 16 November 2015 10:06 PM ]

France’s Charles de Gaulle nuclear aircraft carrier (French Navy)

France is sending its nuclear-powered Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier to “totally eliminate” the Daesh Takfiri terrorists, says French President Francois Hollande.

The carrier would leave for the Middle East on Thursday and that such a move will “triple our military power,” said Hollande during a parliament emergency meeting in Versailles on Monday.

“I am not talking about deterring the Daesh but about eliminating it totally," he said.

The deployment will be the de Gaulle’s second in the region, although during its initial tour it focused primarily on targets in Iraq. However, following last week's terror attacks on Paris, claimed by Daesh, France started a “massive” offensive against Takfiri targets in Syria.

According to a statement released by France’s Defense Ministry on Sunday, 12 warplanes, including 10 fighter bombers, dropped 20 bombs on Takfiri targets in Daesh’s de facto capital Raqqah.

The jets had left from bases in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates to conduct the mission in coordination with US forces, at the head of a so-called coalition against the Takfiris, the statement added.

*French President Francois Hollande looks on as he delivers a speech to MPs during an exceptional joint gathering of parliament in Versailles on November 16, 2015. (AFP)*

Hollande also announced that his country will step up its airstrikes in Syria and they will continue "in the weeks to come."

“The sponsors of the attack in Paris must know that their crimes further strengthen the determination of France to fight and to destroy them," he added.

At least 132 people were killed and 350 others injured after assailants struck several different venues in the French capital late on Friday.

Daesh terrorists, who were initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the government in Damascus, now control parts of Syria and Iraq. They have been engaged in crimes against humanity in the areas under their control.

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