French Defense Min Le Drian Says France Bombed Syria Last Night

French Defence Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, on Friday said that his country had launched a new air strike overnight in Syria against an Islamic State training camp.

“French Rafale jets delivered bombs on this training camp and the targets were met”, he added. “It is not the first time, nor will it be the last time”, Le Drian said on Europe 1 radio.

France carried out it first air strikes in Syria on September 27.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meanwhile warned that trade ties could suffer over Russia’s violation of Turkish airspace and military buildup in the region centered in Syria’s Latakia, a stronghold of Assad and his Alawite leadership on the Mediterranean.

The defense minister also criticized Moscow during the interview, echoing the words of his United States counterpart Ashton Carter in saying “80 to 90 percent” of Moscow’s airstrikes in Syria were not meant to destroy IS, but rather to strengthen the country’s embattled president, Bashar al-Assad.

“IS organises itself in such a way that children, women and civilians are in the frontline”, he said.

The French government has insisted that although it is part of the US-led coalition, France will decide who and what to attack independently. “All our cruise missiles hit their target”, ministry spokesman General Igor Konashenkov said.

Iran confirmed on Friday that a well-known commander of the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard had been killed by IS fighters.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a government offensive began early Wednesday on four fronts in Idlib and neighboring Hama provinces in what the group’s director Rami Abdurrahman called “the most intense fighting in months”.

After a night of fierce clashes, IS militants had driven out rebels from the localities of Tall Qrah, Tall Soussin, Kafar Qares and the base of Chennaiat al-Mushat by 5:00 am local time, he said.