FILE PHOTO: French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu attends a joint press statement after talks about strengthening security and defence in Europe, at Ministry of Defence in Berlin, Germany November 25, 2024. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse/File Photo
PARIS (Reuters) - France carried out missile strikes last weekend in Syria, targeting Islamic State sites in the country, French Armed Forces Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Tuesday.
"On Sunday, French air forces carried out targeted strikes against Islamic State sites based on Syrian territory," Lecornu wrote on social media platform X.
The French airstrike followed a similar military strike by the United States in Syria, which the U.S. said had killed two Islamic State operatives.
Syria faces an uncertain political future after the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group ousted former President Bashar al-Assad on Dec. 8.
The lightning campaign led by HTS ended a 13-year civil war, but it has left a host of questions about the future of a multi-ethnic country where foreign states including Turkey and Russia have strong and potentially competing interests.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
