国际英语新闻:French Fighter Jets Hit IS Targets in Syria

PARIS—French fighter jets have launched massive airstrikes against the Islamic State (IS) stronghold of Raqqa, reportedly destroying a command post and a training camp.

A French military statement said 10 fighter jets were used to drop 20 bombs on IS targets. It is France’s biggest strike to date targeting IS in Syria, and comes after the terrorist group claimed responsibility for a series of attacks in Paris that killed more than 130 people Friday night.

The planes took off from Jordan and the United Arab Emirates Sunday evening and were operating in conjunction with U.S. forces

French President Francois Hollande has called Friday’s gun and suicide attacks an "act of war."

In a possibly related development, Reuters News Agency is reporting that the United States has made a second delivery of ammunition to the Syrian Arab coalition fighting IS in northern Syria.

Reuters quotes a U.S. official as saying the weaponry was delivered over land. A previous supply mission was conducted by air in October.

In pursuit of suspect

French police have released a photo of a suspect who is still at large from the Friday night attack on Paris.

The suspect is identified as Salah Abdeslam, a 26-year-old man born in Brussels, Belgium. The posting soliciting information about the so-called eighth attacker warns that he is dangerous and that anyone with information should call authorities.

Media sources are reporting that French officials stopped Abdeslam hours after the attacks Friday night. They pulled him over on a roadway near the Belgian border in a car with two other people, questioned the three and released them.

He is one of three French brothers linked to the string of near simultaneous attacks across Paris.

Above, French National Police tweet containing photo of eigth suspect they are searching for in connection with the terror attacks

Another brother - Salah Ibrahim - blew himself up at the Bataclan music hall, during an attack there that killed more than 80 people. Belgium authorities are detaining the third brother.

Several arrests

Police in both France and Belgium have made several arrests and also are questioning family members and other people linked to the other suspected assailants.

Several of the Paris suicide bombers have been identified, including Bilal Hafdi of Belgium, who was one of the suicide bombers at the stadium.

French police Sunday questioned close relatives of Omar Ismail Mostefai, the first terrorist identified in the attack.

Mostefai's father, brother and sister-in-law were among six people authorities detained. He was one of seven attackers, all of them wearing suicide vests packed with explosives, who died during the simultaneous attacks, with six of them blowing themselves up and the seventh killed in a shootout with police.

French prosecutor Francois Molins said Mostefai was known to police as a petty criminal, but had "never been implicated in an investigation or a terrorist association." The 29-year-old Mostefai lived in Chartres, near Paris.

While authorities believe that there were only 8 actual attackers, they think that about 20 people were involved and of those, 10 are still unaccounted for.

Paris panic

Hundreds of Parisians who had gathered to observe vigils at the Place de la Republique and Carillion Café, one of the places that was attacked, panicked Sunday when sudden noises sent them running.

VOA's Daniel Schearf said he was shooting video footage at the first location where a crowd of about 2,000 had gathered mostly to mourn, although a small group was showing defiance and singing. A scream was heard somewhere at the center of the crowd and as he heard more screams people ran, emptying the square in a matter of moments.

The Associated Press reports that the crowd was spooked by fire crackers.

The Place de la Republique was the scene of massive peace demonstrations after January’s Paris attacks.

Student Thomas Deblauwe and his father were at Place de la Republique earlier in the day, where a crowd placed flowers and candles in front of a giant statue of Marianne, the symbol of France.

Deblauwe told VOA it is important that the French stand together and support each other. The country will observe another moment of silence on Monday to pay homage to the victims.

France is marking three days of mourning for the victims, including more than 350 wounded. Hundreds of people packed Notre Dame Cathedral for an evening mass and Paris' Grand Synagogue held a special prayer vigil. Observances were made in cities throughout France.