France has used cruise missiles for the first time against the Islamic State during strikes in Iraq on Tuesday, the Defense Ministry said.

SCALP long-range missiles were launched from French fighter jets based in the United Arab Emirates and Jordan as part of a bombing raid that targeted a command center, training site and logistics depot in western Iraq on the border with Syria.

The missiles were used for the first time in Libya in 2011 strikes and cost about 850,000 euros ($930,000) each, according to the French press.

France has stepped up strikes on Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq after the organization claimed responsibility for shootings and suicide bombings in Paris last month that left 130 people dead.

(Reporting by Leigh Thomas, editing by Geert De Clercq)

REUTERS