CENTCOM: French Navy's Deployment in Qatar Reinforces Operation Inherent Resolve

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - France has sent warships to the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar to assist the integration of French aircraft into the US-counterterror campaign in Iraq and Syria, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a press release on Monday.
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"The French detachment at the Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) in Al Udeid Airforce Base, Qatar, has been recently reinforced by a significant French Navy backups supporting Operation Inherent Resolve", the release said. French jets had been deployed in the Joint Operation Area for several months before the French Navy arrived, the release said.

The addition of naval assets will allow French aircraft to better integrate into the US-led coalition’s fight against terrorists in Syria and Iraq, the release added.

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The French Navy’s aircraft carrier Charles-de-Gaulle and its strike group have joined the operations of the US-led coalition against the Daesh, the US Central Command said in a statement earlier in March. The carrier strike group consists of the Aircraft carrier Charles-de-Gaulle, the Danish frigate Daniel Juel, and an attack submarine among other assets, according to the statement.

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The French air carrier group has already conducted three previous missions since January 2015 in support of the US-led coalition.

The US-led coalition of more than 70 members has been conducting military operations against the Daesh terrorist group in Syria and Iraq since September 2014. The coalition’s activities in Syria are authorized neither by the Syrian government, nor by the UN Security Council.

READ MORE: US Coalition Pounds Syria's Baghuz With Phosphorus, Civilians Killed — Reports

* Daesh (ISIL/ISIS/IS/Islamic State) is a terrorist organisation banned in Russia and many other countries.

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