France's Only Aircraft Carrier to Leave for Middle East On Wednesday
Title: France's Only Aircraft Carrier to Leave for Middle East On Wednesday. Source: DAHBOO77. Date Published: November 14, 2015. Description:
The only aircraft carrier in the French Navy’s fleet, the Charles de
Gaulle, will leave for the Persian Gulf on November 18, to join the
fight against Islamic State in the region, Paris has confirmed.
“The
naval group will leave Toulon (a major French naval base) in a few days,
on November 18, to arrive in the Persian Gulf in mid-December,”
government spokesman Stephane Le Foll said, as cited by Le Figaro.
France announced the deployment of its only aircraft carrier against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) on November 5.
France will deploy the nuclear-powered Charles de Gaulle aircraft
carrier to fight the "Islamic State," adding to six Rafaele jets in the
United Arab Emirates and six Mirage jets in Jordan.
The flagship of the French navy last deployed to the Persian Gulf for
two months in February, from where about 20 aircraft launched 10 to 15
sorties per day. It is usually accompanied by a carrier group, including
submarines, frigates and support ships.
The aircraft carrier's deployment will be the first since France started
launching airstrikes on the "Islamic State" in Syria in October. France
has carried out nearly 1,300 missions in Iraq, hitting 459 targets in
271 airstrikes. It has carried out only two airstrikes in Syria.
The headline of the article above should read, "to support Islamic State" because that is exactly what France, Turkey, England, US, and other NATO nations have done in Syria since 2011.
