{"id":260971,"date":"2017-09-24T14:55:27","date_gmt":"2017-09-24T18:55:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rael.org\/?p=260971"},"modified":"2020-12-17T11:51:29","modified_gmt":"2020-12-17T16:51:29","slug":"first-casualty-french-paratrooper-killed-in-anti-terrorist-op-in-iraq-syria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/el\/first-casualty-french-paratrooper-killed-in-anti-terrorist-op-in-iraq-syria\/","title":{"rendered":"First casualty? French paratrooper killed in anti-terrorist op \u2018in Iraq\/Syria\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
RAEL\u2019S COMMENT:<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n
A totally illegal presence of French militaries in a sovereign nation where they are not invited.<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A soldier in a French Army special reconnaissance regiment was killed in a \u201ccombat-related\u201d incident on Saturday somewhere in the Iraq and Syria warzone, the French government confirmed despite the unit officially not being deployed to either of the countries.<\/p>\n

In a statement issued by \u00c9lys\u00e9e Palace on Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron said that that an \u201cadjutant of the 13th Parachute Dragoon Regiment\u201d was killed while \u201caccomplishing his mission to defend our country, protect our fellow citizens and win the struggle against barbarism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neither the soldier\u2019s identity, nor the exact location or the country where the paratrooper was killed, have been revealed. Former French General Dominique Trinquand, cited by France-24, said it is common for details of special forces missions to be kept secret from the public.<\/p>\n

French Defense Minister Florence Parly expressed condolences to the family of the slain soldier, saying that he died \u201cin a battle he led for us all, in the name of freedom and our values,\u201d as cited by Franceinfo.<\/p>\n

The serviceman reportedly became the first casualty suffered by the French forces within Op\u00e9ration Chammal, an anti-Islamic State bombing campaign conducted since September 2014 in support of the Iraqi Army and Kurdish militias fighting terrorists on the ground, French military sources told AFP.<\/p>\n

In October 2016, it was reported that two French paratroopers from the Task Force Hydra deployed by France to Iraq were injured in a drone explosion near Erbil. The French government later confirmed the injuries. Le Monde reported at the time that the French forces had been engaged in fighting IS for two years alongside Kurdish Peshmerga militia in Erbil.<\/p>\n

The French air campaign has been led by Rafale fighter jets, eight of which are stationed in the French airbase in Jordan, some 30 km from the Syrian border, and six in the United Arab Emirates (OAE), according to a report by Le Monde.<\/p>\n

But the announcement of the paratrooper\u2019s death is the first public acknowledgement by the French government that the French regiment, based in the southwestern commune of Martignas-sur-Jalle, is on active duty in Syria and Iraq, France-24 reports.<\/p>\n

Speaking of the circumstances of the serviceman\u2019s death, Colonel Patrick Steiger, spokesman for the French Armed Forces General Staff, said that the lieutenant was an adviser of a \u201clocal force\u201d fighting Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS, ISIL) which came under heavy fire by jihadists who rained down \u201cweapons of all caliber: machine guns, mortars and missiles\u201d on the group early Saturday. Although the Frenchman was not directly involved in repelling the offensive, he was \u201cfatally wounded\u201d and died on the scene.<\/p>\n

Defending the decision to not name the location of the clashes, Steiger said, as cited by AFP, that it was made\u00a0\u201cso as not to reveal it to the enemy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the US-led Operation Inherent Resolve, of which Chammal is a part, also confirmed the casualty, saying that\u00a0\u201ca French Coalition service member was killed in a combat-related incident in the Middle East [on] Sept[ember] 23.\u201d\u00a0The statement went on to\u00a0note\u00a0that the French government may decide to reveal more details about the incident.<\/p>\n

The regiment traces back its origin to the 17th century and is known to have been involved in the Gulf War and in the Kosovo War, among other engagements.<\/p>\n

After the spate of deadly terrorist attacks that rocked France in November 2015, the fight against Islamic State has been listed among the top priorities of the French government.<\/p>\n

“Restoring peace and stability \u2014 Iraq then Syria \u2014 is vital priority for France,”\u00a0Macron\u00a0said\u00a0last month, designating ISIS as\u00a0\u201cour enemy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Syrian government has repeatedly accused the forces of the international coalition of operating on its territory illegally, as none of its members received the required approval.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.rt.com\/news\/404352-french-paratrooper-killed-syria-iraq\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RAEL\u2019S COMMENT: A totally illegal presence of French militaries in a sovereign nation where they are not invited.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":287355,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-260971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}