Syria is World’s ‘Biggest Factory of Terrorism,’ Hollande says

France launched another series of airstrikes on Islamic State (ISIS) positions in Syria on Tuesday, part of intensifying retaliation efforts against the group that laid claim to a series of attacks in Paris on Friday that killed at least 129 people.

French fighter jets targeted a recruitment center and a command center in the de facto ISIS capital of Raqqa. Meanwhile, French police carried out more than 160 raids throughout France in an effort to track down accomplices to the Paris attacks.

On Sunday, French president Francois Hollande promised to hunt down the ISIS militants behind Friday’s attacks.

“Friday’s acts of war were decided and planned in Syria,” Hollande told French lawmakers in Versailles on Monday.

“It is not about containing but about destroying that organization,” he said. “They are not out of our reach.”

Hollande said Syria has become “the biggest factory of terrorism the world has ever known and the international community is still too divided and too incoherent.”

U.S. Steps Up Strikes on ISIS Oil Assets

The U.S. has increased its attacks on ISIS oil facilities in Syria, hitting more than 100 tanker trucks used to transport the jihadist group’s largest moneymaker, a military spokesman told the Wall Street Journal on Monday.

U.S. jets and gunships targeted as many as 300 trucks used to transport ISIS oil in Deir Ezzor, a city in Syria’s east. The strikes destroyed 115 of the trucks according to the spokesman.

“The purpose of the strike was to help cripple ISIL’s oil distribution capabilities, which will reduce their ability to fund their military operations,” Col. Steve Warren said, using an alternative name for the jihadist group.

The strike marks the first time the U.S. military has targeted trucks used to transport ISIS oil for fear of killing civilian drivers. The spokesman said the military made efforts to prevent civilian casualties by dropping fliers in the area warning drivers and others of the impending attacks.

According to the Wall Street Journal, tribal leaders from Deir Ezzor have said fuel tankers like those hit on Tuesday are vital to the ISIS oil smuggling operation in the area. The leaders argued that the tankers regularly pass through government-controlled areas on their way to the Turkish border without a problem, implying the Syrian government was somehow benefiting from the ISIS oil operation.

U.S. Ground Invasion Out of the Question, Obama Says

U.S. president Barack Obama passionately rejected calls for a U.S.-led ground invasion in Syria on Monday, the Guardian reports.

“It’s best that we don’t shoot first and aim later,” Obama said during a heated press conference at the G20 Summit in Turkey in which reporters urged the U.S. president to “take out these bastards.”

In the wake of the deadly attacks in Paris on Friday, public pressure for a strong military intervention in Syria has risen steeply.

Obama, for his part, has accused his critics of failing to clarify the benefits of another robust U.S. ground operation in the region.

“What I do not do is to take actions either because it is going to work politically or somehow make America look tough, or make me look tough,” Obama said. “And maybe part of the reason is that every few months I go to Walter Reed [military hospital] and I see a 25-year-old kid who is paralyzed or has lost his limbs. And some of those are people who I have ordered into battle. So I can’t afford to play some of the political games that others play.”

Recommended Reads

• The Washington Post: Syria’s Civil War Now Europe’s War After Paris Attacks
• The Associated Press: As Syria Refugee Aid Falters, New Approach Considered: Massive Investment in Mideast Hosts
• The Washington Post: Paris Terror Attacks Are a Victory for Syria’s Assad
• Al-Jazeera English: Life on Hold: The Struggle of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon
• The Wall Street Journal: Paris Stadium Attacker Got to Europe Using Fake Syrian Passport

Top image: U.S. president Barack Obama, center, walks with British prime minister David Cameron, left, at the G20 summit in Antalya, Turkey, Monday, Nov. 16, 2015. The leaders of the Group of 20 wrapped up their two-day summit near the Turkish Mediterranean coastal city of Antalya on Monday against the backdrop of heavy French bombardment of the Islamic State’s stronghold in Syria. The bombings marked a significant escalation of France’s role in the fight against the extremist group. (Anadolu Agency via AP, Pool)