French fighter jets launched air strikes against ISIL targets in Syria on Sunday night, just two days after the group claimed responsibility for the coordinated attacks in Paris.

The raids were France’s biggest to date in Syria and were directed at the Islamist extremists’ stronghold of Raqqa. They involved 10 jets which were launched simultaneously from the United Arab Emirates and Jordon and were carried out in cooperation with the US.

The French defence ministry said twenty bombs were dropped on a command centre, a munitions depot and a training camp for fighters in the Syrian city .

The operation came just hours after Paris and Washington pledged to step up the campaign against ISIL in response to Friday’s terrorist attacks in the French capital that killed at least 129 people and injured more than 350.

Euronews