France launches fresh Iraq strikes as country mourns hostageFrance launched a fresh round of air strikes in Iraq on Thursday (Sep 25) and pledged more support for Syrian opposition forces as it upped its fight against Islamic State militants after the beheading of hostage Herve Gourdel.
PARIS: France launched a fresh round of air strikes in Iraq on Thursday (Sep 25) and pledged more support for Syrian opposition forces as it upped its fight against Islamic State militants after the beheading of hostage Herve Gourdel.

President Francois Hollande pledged "determination, composure and vigilance" in the face of threats issued by IS militants sowing terror in Iraq and Syria, and announced flags nationwide would be flown at half-mast for three days from Friday to mourn the mountaineer's loss......
Paris opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq but was one of the first to sign up for an active role in the US-led campaign against the IS group. It has six Rafale fighter jets and just under 1,000 soldiers based in the United Arab Emirates, and on Friday carried out its first air strike on IS targets in Iraq, destroying a logistics depot....
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/...sh/1381418.htmlAllies hit IS oil targets in Syria to choke 'network of death'American, Saudi and Emirati warplanes hit oil installations in eastern Syria controlled by Islamic State militants, broadening the campaign they launched this week beyond military targets to economic assets.
The strikes against the refineries killed 14 militants but also left five civilians dead, including a child, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group. The raids came as Obama urged leaders gathered at the UN General Assembly to join the coalition and convinced the Security Council to back a resolution aimed at stemming the flow of foreign fighters joining IS.

Belgium and The Netherlands committed warplanes to Iraq and Britain said its parliament would vote Friday on following suit. "The United States of America will work with a broad coalition to dismantle this network of death," Obama told the UN. "Today I ask the world to join in this effort."....

More than 50 nations have joined the US-led coalition against IS, including key Arab states, and in recent days more countries have promised concrete military support. Joining France, Belgium and The Netherlands said they would each send six F-16 fighter bombers to take part in the air campaign in Iraq....
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