PARIS, September 20- French President Francois Hollande said the country launched its first air strikes on Islamic State (IS) fighters in Iraq on Friday, Xinhua news agency reported.
“Our Rafale jets launched its first strike on a logistics depot of IS at 9:40 (0740 GMT) in the morning,” Hollande said in a statement.
On Thursday, Hollande announced air support to quell IS militants at the request of Iraqi authorities and pledged to start air strikes soon.At the same time, the president said France would not deploy ground troops in the conflict-torn country.
“We will not go beyond that. We will only intervene in Iraq. We were called to help by Iraqi authorities,” Hollande said at a press meeting.Prime Minister Manuel Valls will outline France’s military operations in Iraq in parliament next week.
– BERNAMA
