France has entered a third day of mourning after 129 people were killed in Paris in a series of suicide bombings and shootings. It was the deadliest attack on French soil since World War II. Hundreds more were wounded, 99 critically. In a series of coordinated attacks Friday evening, gunmen and bombers targeted restaurants, the national soccer stadium and the Bataclan concert hall, where at least 89 people were killed. Authorities have blamed the attacks on the self-proclaimed Islamic State. In retaliation, France launched its heaviest airstrikes yet against the Syrian city of Raqqa, which has long served as ISIL’s de facto capital. About 200,000 civilians live in Raqqa. The strikes have reportedly knocked out electricity in the city. U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said the United States would join France in intensifying airstrikes.
Ben Rhodes: “What we’ve made clear to the French is we will be shoulder to shoulder with them in this response. They’re in our military campaign in Iraq and Syria already. Clearly they want to energize their efforts. There is a French two-star general who is positioned at CENTCOM to help that coordination go forward. And we’re confident that in the coming days and weeks working with the French, we’ll be able to intensify our strikes against ISIL in both Syria and Iraq to make clear that there’s no safe haven for these terrorists.”
Earlier today, U.S. officials said U.S. planes had for the first time bombed hundreds of trucks used to smuggle out oil in a bid to cut off a key source of ISIL’s revenue.