01:50France: Hollande announces French aircraft carrier to be deployed to fight IS
French President Francois Hollande announced the planned deployment of France's Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier to the Middle East, during a press conference in Paris, Friday.
The carrier, equipped with Rafale jets, is being deployed to help equip Iraqi forces in the fight against the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL). It will arrive in September.
Hollande stressed that, while continuing to equip and train forces in Iraq and Syria, this deployment would not mean that French troops were joining the fight on the ground. He said, "This is not about changing the nature of our intervention, which we are undertaking in Iraq and Syria. But we are not going to be deploying troops on the ground. We are offering council, delivering training, but it is not our soldiers who are in the war on the ground in Syria and Iraq."
01:50French President Francois Hollande announced the planned deployment of France's Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier to the Middle East, during a press conference in Paris, Friday.
The carrier, equipped with Rafale jets, is being deployed to help equip Iraqi forces in the fight against the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL). It will arrive in September.
Hollande stressed that, while continuing to equip and train forces in Iraq and Syria, this deployment would not mean that French troops were joining the fight on the ground. He said, "This is not about changing the nature of our intervention, which we are undertaking in Iraq and Syria. But we are not going to be deploying troops on the ground. We are offering council, delivering training, but it is not our soldiers who are in the war on the ground in Syria and Iraq."