Russian Federation bombards Raqqa, ISIS headquarters in Syria

French defense officials said the United States had stepped up intelligence sharing, enabling Paris to identify more specific targets.

The raids were France’s first retaliation to Friday’s coordinated attacks in Paris claimed by Isis, in which at least 129 people were killed.

President Vladimir Putin vowed to hunt down those responsible and intensify airstrikes against Islamists in Syria.

Paris and Moscow are not coordinating their operations, but French President Francois Hollande has called for a global campaign against the radicals in the wake of the Paris attacks.

Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently, a group of anonymous activists inside the ISIS stronghold, wrote that heavy strikes had been taking place since this morning. The raid destroyed an IS command post, a recruitment centre, a munitions depot and a “terrorist” training camp, a French military statement said quoted by news agencies.

“Between the Paris attacks, bombs in Beirut, Baghdad and Ankara, and the downing of a Russian airliner over Sinai, we are seeing an intensification of atrocities against people around the world”. No civilian casualties have been reported yet, according to the group.

A US government official told Reuters separately that Russian Federation had informed the United States in advance “before launching a “significant number” of strikes in Syria on Tuesday”.

France is part of a US-led coalition against Isis, and had taken a more active role than other members of the alliance in targeting the group.

The French army on Sunday bombed an oil supply centre held by the Islamic State (IS) group in eastern Syria, Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announced on Monday.