Plan B Forum

Twelve French aircraft, ten of which were fighters, dropped 20 munitions on the de-facto ISIS capital of Raqqa in Syria today. This appears to be France’s opening reprisal on ISIS for the terror attacks in Paris on Friday night. The AP reports ISIS targets hit include command and control centers, recruitment center, a munitions depot and training camp.

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.

Although ready “targeting packages” have been rushed to the French, the Pentagon is removing hindrances on sharing their raw targeting information in real-time with France for future strikes. This move is a signal that the French are prepared to take a much more active role in the anti-ISIS air campaign over Iraq and Syria. It would also be a divergence from the “Five Eyes” intelligence gathering consortium, which includes Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. Introducing France into this equation would give the French intel services and their military counterparts the highest quality actionable intelligence available when it comes to producing targets to Strike in Syria and Iraq.

Although increased air strikes against fixed ISIS-related targets are worthwhile, the airpower is severely limited when it comes to actually trying to defeat a group like ISIS. You can put pressure on the terror group with aerial bombardment, making it hard for them to grow and freely operate in the open, and precision medium-altitude strikes can keep what has become largely a military stalemate in place in Iraq.

But make no mistake about it: a different strategy, a much more risky strategy, will be necessary in order to truly take the fight to ISIS. As such, any politician or military spokesman who says their aim is to destroy ISIS, not to attempt to contain them at best, is stating a goal that is impossible to achieve under the current strategy and tactical limitations put on our fighting forces.


Contact the author Tyler@Jalopnik.com

Lord Jim wrote:Oh no don't they realize that anything we do will just make things worse? We shouldn't lift a finger to take any military action against the Islamo fascists until we've solved every single underlying social problem in the Mid East first...

Guinevere wrote:I think he's trying to be sarcastic.

Lord Jim wrote:Oh no don't they realize that anything we do will just make things worse? We shouldn't lift a finger to take any military action against the Islamo fascists until we've solved every single underlying social problem in the Mid East first...

any politician or military spokesman who says their aim is to destroy ISIS, not to attempt to contain them at best, is stating a goal that is impossible to achieve under the current strategy and tactical limitations put on our fighting forces.

france is fighting back

Two Dead, Seven Arrested In Police Raid On Paris Suburb

French police have arrested seven people and at least two others are dead after a raid in the Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis began with a suicide bombing, according police officials.

A woman detonated an explosive vest at the start of the dawn raid on Wednesday, while gunshots and explosions were heard in the early hours of the morning in the northern suburb, where the Stade de France is located. The stadium was one of the sites targeted in the attacks that killed at least 129 people and left at least 99 seriously injured in Paris on Friday.

Wednesday’s raid was part of a manhunt for Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected mastermind of the attacks, and suspected militant Salah Abdeslam. According to police officials, along with the female suicide bomber a man was also killed, and a total of seven people have been arrested, Reuters reports.

Reuters later reported that a source close to the investigation had said the arrested suspects were planning a fresh attack on the Parisian business district La Défense. French weekly news magazine L'Obs then cited a police source saying that there was no planned attack on the area, where workers returned to their normal routines this week.

The police operation unfolded over nearly seven hours, with an initial series of explosions followed by sporadic bursts of gunfire. A government spokesman declared the operation over on Twitter at 11:47 a.m. Five police officers were lightly wounded, and a 7-year-old police dog, a Malinois named Diesel, was killed.

Officials: Paris Attacks Mastermind Killed in Raid

Last updated on: November 19, 2015 7:44 AM
PARIS—

French prosecutors have confirmed that the suspected mastermind of last week's Paris attacks was among those killed in a police raid on Wednesday.

Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian national of Moroccan descent, was one of the people inside an apartment stormed in the seven-hour police raid in Saint-Denis.

Meanwhile, French lawmakers voted Thursday to extend the country's state of emergency for three months in the wake of last Friday's attacks.