French planes strike IS stronghold in Syria

A spokesman for France’s military command told Reuters early on Tuesday that 10 French warplanes, launched from the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, had conducted air strikes overnight targeting a command centre and a recruitment centre for jihadists in the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa. Speaking to lawmakers Monday, he called for a unified diplomatic front against Islamic State and sought expanded executive authority. “When France started striking Syria, it knew it would pay the price for it. Maybe they weren’t all that prepared for it. Now they must invent the response, because it’s a new kind of war”. According to Jean-Louis Bruguiere, a leading counterterror judge in the past, the Paris attacks were plotted in Syria and Abaaoud was sure to have been in communication with Baghdadi while the incidents took place on Friday night, according to CNN.

While Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could not be part of the solution to the crisis, “our enemy is Daesh (Islamic State)”, Hollande said, while insisting that France was fighting terrorism and not another civilization.

He also proposed adding 5,000 positions to the country’s national paramilitary police force and said he would not propose cuts in the nation’s defense spending until at least 2019.

– Five of seven people detained over the weekend in Belgium were released by a judge, officials said.

A French security official said anti-terror intelligence officials had identified Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian of Moroccan descent, as chief architect of the attacks on a rock concert, a football game and popular nightspots in one of Paris’ trendiest districts.

Details of how Abdeslam was involved in the attack were not disclosed.

Tension was high in France and Belgium as police looked for a key suspect. The USA military said it killed Jihadi John in a Syrian drone strike Friday.

The Eiffel Tower is illuminated in the French national colors red, white and blue in honor of the victims of the terror attacks last Friday in Paris, Monday, November 16, 2015.

– The dead attackers identified by officials so far are 28-year-old Samy Amimour, 29-year-old Ismael Omar Mostefai and Bilal Hadfi, who sources say was 19 or 20.

In a solemn address to a joint session of parliament in the Palace of Versailles that began with the words “France is at war”, Hollande announced an increase in police recruitment, a halt to layoffs in the army, and a constitutional amendment to strengthen the fight against terrorism.

– Hollande declared a state of emergency across France, which lets authorities limit people’s movements and impose zones of security and protection.

Embassy staffers and hold talks with French officials.

Tantalizing clues about the extent of the plot have emerged from Baghdad, where senior Iraqi officials told the AP that France and other countries had been warned Thursday of an imminent attack.

French border police had stopped him on Saturday but unwittingly allowed him to travel on to Belgium, unaware of an arrest warrant that had been issued in Paris that described him as extremely unsafe. A major police operation was underway there Monday. French troops have deployed by the thousands and tourist sites remain shuttered in one of the most visited cities on Earth. “We are going to live with this terrorist threat for a long time”. “We agreed to exchange more information and I’m convinced that over the course of the next weeks, (the Islamic State)will feel greater pressure”.