French Jets Reinforce International Coalition Against IS

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Sunday that French fighter jets are expected to arrive in Jordan and join operations against Islamic State (IS) in Iraq.

Valls stated that military personnel and equipment were already in place in Jordan, with the Mirage planes soon to arrive in the country.

The French Prime Minister held a speech at French airbase in Niger's capital Niamey devoted to countering terrorism in the Sahel region.

Apart from the nine French Rafale fighter jets in the United Arab Emirates, Valls said that the aim was to deploy six Mirage planes in Jordan until the end of the year.

The deployment of the six Mirage 2000-Ds had been announced earlier on Wednesday by Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.

Jordan was chosen as the country to station the jets, as it neighbours Iraq, which will make it easier for the coalition to intervene from there.

Le Drian expressed his opinion that successes against IS were possible only because of the air support by the coalition, in which France played a decisive role.