France launched "massive" air strikes on the Islamic State group's de-facto capital in Syria Sunday night, destroying a jihadi training camp and a munitions dump in the city of Raqqa, where Iraqi intelligence officials say the attacks on Paris were planned.
Twelve aircraft including 10 fighter jets dropped a total of 20 bombs in the biggest air strikes since France extended its bombing campaign against the extremist group to Syria in September, a Defense Ministry statement said. The jets launched from sites in Jordan and the Persian Gulf, in coordination with U.S. forces.
A spokesman for France's defense minister told CNN that the airstrikes also hit an ISIS command center and a recruitment center.
Canada's CF-18's strike ISIS fighting position today near Haditha Iraq; coalition airstrikes intensify, led by France. #cbc #ParisAttacks— Susan Ormiston (@OrmistonOnline) November 15, 2015
Iraqi intelligence told the Associated Press on Sunday that it had warned Western coalition members of imminent attacks by ISIS only a day before the Paris assaults.
The news agency cited Iraqi intelligence as saying they had sent a dispatch about the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, ordering an attack on coalition countries fighting against them in Iraq and Syria, as well as on Iran and Russia, "through bombings or assassinations or hostage taking in the coming days."
It also said that the Paris attacks were centrally planned in Raqqa, where the attackers were trained specifically for the operation.