France carries out 1st air assaults against militants in Syria

PARIS — Six French jet fighters targeted and destroyed an Islamic State training camp in eastern Syria in a five-hour operation on Sunday, President Francois Hollande announced, making good on a promise to go after the group that he has said is planning attacks against several countries, including France.

Hollande said the strikes on the training camp, and others to come, were aimed at “protecting our territory, cutting short terrorist actions, acting in legitimate defense.”

The U.S.-led coalition has been carrying out regular air strikes that punish but have failed to decimate the Islamic State, which controls large swaths of Syria.

Hollande’s decision to carry out targeted strikes on strategic sites is coupled with France’s bid to press for a political solution to the Syrian crisis.

Sunday’s air raids on the training camp site in the Euphrates valley lasted about five hours, the Defense Ministry said, with fighter jets — five of them Delta-winged Rafales, taking off from Jordan and the Persian Gulf, the ministry said without naming the Gulf location.

Hollande — who has ruled out sending ground troops into Syria — has cited “proof” of plans for attacks on France and the growing danger to Syrian civilians, with a large chunk of the population fleeing in a massive exodus.