33 militants killed in air strikes over Raqqa

ISIS said they carried out the attacks in retaliation for French and Russian air raids in Iraq and Syria. French defence officials said the United States had stepped up intelligence sharing, enabling Paris to identify more specific targets. “There is a time for soft power and playing the long game in the Middle East, but there is also a time for the ruthless application of hard power”.

French sources said Paris had chosen the European Union route rather than appealing to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation to avoid both alienating Moscow and creating potential complications with NATO-member Turkey, which was slow to join the U.S.-led coalition and has reservations about its support for Syrian Kurds.

Amid the obvious success of Russia’s aerial campaign in Syria, France may dispatch commando units to the troubled Arab country, just like the Americans did before. The city is the symbolic heart of the extremist group’s self-declared caliphate, or Islamic state, and home to senior leaders in the group, analysts say.

Western airstrikes “are not working”, according to activists on the ground in Syria.

“The rules of engagement imposed upon our fliers are no civilian death and limit collateral damage”, said Peters, a Fox News contributor.

Former military officers, like Peters, however, said they do not believe the president’s strategy is a winning one. “This is a long-term endeavor”, he said shortly before his confirmation as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “This is on the order of years and not months”.

“They will necessarily be exceeded, because the resources we are giving the security services will not come from other budgets”.

“I don’t think they’re gaining strength”, said Obama. Russian warplanes also fired cruise missiles on militant positions in Syria’s Idlib and Aleppo provinces. The newest Russian strikes have been probably the most in depth assaults by Moscow on Raqqa.

Parliamentarians gave Mr Hollande a standing ovation on Monday before spontaneously singing the Marseillaise national anthem in a show of political unity after the most deadly attack France has seen since World War II. He’s the dictator whose family’s 40-year reign sparked the four-year-old civil war that has killed 250,000 and sent 4 million refugees fleeing Syria. The rest of the 3,500 USA troops are in Iraq, training and advising an Iraqi army that US taxpayers already spent $25 billion training and advising from 2003 to 2011.

When a foreign terrorist organization launches an attack on another country’s soil, it seems inevitable that the targeted nation responds by a few military force.

“The goal of the strike was to help cripple ISIL’s oil distribution capabilities, which will reduce their ability to fund their military operations”, Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said, using the White House’s preferred name for Islamic State.

When asked whether there are “any additional thoughts toward cooperating more with Russian Federation?” he replied: “We are not cooperating with Russian Federation, as you know”.

– November 14: Russian airstrikes that activists say struck central Raqqa near the Grand Mosque and the museum building that killed up to 13 civilians in addition to a number of IS militants.

“We welcome any honest effort on the part of the Russians to play a more constructive role in Syria”, he added. A lawyer for one of the men told Belgian media that French police had pulled over their auto three times early Saturday as they headed to the border, but each time let them continue their journey.