AFP, 15 Sep 2014 – France has joined Britain in carrying out reconnaissance flights in support of the US air campaign against jihadists launched in Iraq early last month, the defense minister said on Monday.
France has a base in the United Arab Emirates where both fighter and surveillance aircraft are based, and Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian flew in as Paris prepared to host an international conference on a fightback against the Islamic State.
The jihadist group has seized swathes of Iraq and neighboring Syria and just Saturday executed a third Western hostage, upping the pressure on the governments meeting in the French capital.