French forces overnight destroyed several targets of the Islamic State (IS), also known as Daesh, a few days after a presumed follower of the terrorist cell killed at least 84 revellers celebrating Bastille Day in the southern city of Nice.
"We must continue to move forward in the relentless battle that we lead both outside and at home against Daesh. Our forces continue to strike and did so overnight and a day before," Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Monday after a security meeting in the wake of the Nice attack.
Without giving details on the operation, Le Drian stressed that despite the rising terror threats inside the country, French forces would continue their mission within the U.S.-led coalition combating IS in Syria and Iraq "to definitively eradicate Daesh cancer."
In a previous interview with a French radio, the French minister said that the international coalition fighting IS insurgents targeted to take back by the end of the year Mosul in Iraq and Rekka in Syria, the group's main strongholds in the region.
Since the Paris attacks carried out by IS in November 2015, France has intensified its air strikes against IS in both Iraq and Syria with the participation of its aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle.