Isis: France launches fresh air strikes on Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa

The retaliation from the French military for the Islamic State (Isis) linked terror attacks on Paris has continued as the country launched a new wave of air strikes on the Isis stronghold of Raqqa on 17 November. The French Ministry of Defence revealed that 10 aircraft destroyed a command centre and training facility of the terrorist group at 2.30am GMT.

The latest strike comes after 12 Rafale and Mirage 2000 jets, operating out of the Persian Gulf and Jordan, destroyed an Isis command post, jihadist recruitment centre and armoury on 15 November. The attacks are part of France's wider Operation Chammal, which attempts to support Iraqi troops and take on IS in the region.

The fresh strikes also follow French President Francois Hollande's warning to IS that France was now "at war" with the jihadist group after at least 129 people were killed as part of gun and bomb attacks on Paris on 13 November.

"We are not committed to a war of civilisations, because these assassins don't represent any civilisation," the president told a joint session of the French parliament on 16 November. "We are in a war against terrorism, jihadism, which threatens the whole world. Terrorism will not destroy France, because France will destroy it."

France is also sending its massive Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier to the region to increase its air strike capability by bringing another 20 planes to the fight against Isis. The US has also increased the pressure on Isis by destroying more than 100 tank trucks – vehicles crucial to the jihadist's oil economy.

Meanwhile, the French military have deployed a total of 4,700 troops to the streets of Paris in the wake of the jihadist attacks on the capital. The British Foreign Office has advised people to keep movement around the city to minimum and warned that a national state of emergency had been declared in the country.