Opération Chammal

Opération Chammal
	Part of the international military intervention against ISIL
	; French Dassault Rafale of Squadron 11F prepares to land on USS Carl Vinson. Carl Vinson is deployed as part of maritime security operations and strike operations in Iraq and Syria.
Date	19 September 2014 – ongoing; (9 years, 4 months, 3 weeks and 4 days)
Location	Iraq, Syria
Status	Ongoing French airstrikes on IS in Iraq and Syria; IS ground attacks on French special forces repelled; Complete military defeat of IS in Iraq on 9 Dec 2017;
Belligerents
France	Islamic State
Commanders and leaders
Emmanuel Macron ; (President 2017–present); Gabriel Attal ; (Prime Minister 2024–present); Gérald Darmanin ; (Minister of the Interior 2020–present); Sébastien Lecornu ; (Minister of the Armed Forces 2022–present); Thierry Burkhard ; (Chief of the Defence Staff 2021–present); Pierre Schill ; (Chief of the Army Staff 2021–present); Nicolas Vaujour ; (Chief of the Naval Staff 2023–present); Stéphane Mille ; (Chief of the Air and Space Force Staff 2021–present) Former François Hollande ; Manuel Valls ; Bernard Cazeneuve ; Édouard Philippe ; Jean Castex ; Bruno Le Roux ; Matthias Fekl ; Gérard Collomb ; Christophe Castaner ; Jean-Yves Le Drian ; Sylvie Goulard ; Florence Parly ; Pierre de Villiers ; François Lecointre ; Jean-Pierre Bosser ; Thierry Burkhard ; Bernard Rogel ; Christophe Prazuck ; Pierre Vandier ; Denis Mercier ; André Lanata ; Philippe Lavigne ;	Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi (Leader of IS); Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi †; Abu al-Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi †; Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi †; Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi †; Abu Ala al-Afri †; Abu Ali al-Anbari †; Abu Suleiman al-Naser †; Abu Ali al-Anbari †; Abu Omar al-Shishani †; Abu Waheeb †
Units involved
French Air Force; French Navy; French Army	Military activity of the Islamic State
Strength
1 aircraft carrier (FS Charles de Gaulle); 2 air defence warships (FS Jean Bart, and FS Chevalier Paul); 30 Dassault Rafale fighters; 6 Mirage 2000D Fighter-bombers; 9 Super-Étendard Strike fighters (until 2016); 1 E-2 Hawkeye; 1 Breguet Atlantic; 1 E3F AWACS; 4 CAESAR self-propelled howitzer; 3,200 troops (special forces operators included);	Between 9,000 to 18,000 (U.S. intelligence estimate, January 2015); Between 20,000 to 31,500 (CIA estimate, September 2014); ;
Casualties and losses
2 killed as of December 2019; Unknown wounded; ; ;	Over 2,500 ISIS fighters killed by French forces between September 2014 and December 2016 (reports on casualties from 2017 onwards are scarce); Unknown wounded; Over 2,000 targets (ISIS bases, weapons and ammunition depots, infrastructures...) destroyed by French air strikes between August 2014 and May 2017; ; ; ;

Opération Chammal is a French military operation in Iraq and Syria launched to help curtail the expansion of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and to support the Iraqi Army. Its name comes from the Shamal (Chammal in French), a northwesterly wind that blows over Iraq and the Persian Gulf states.

Airstrikes in Iraq began in 19 September 2014 and airstrikes in Syria by the end of September 2015. The French operation was at first limited to airstrikes and French president, François Hollande, had stated no ground troops would be deployed in the conflict. Additionally, the French frigate Jean Bart joined the United States Navy's Commander Task Force 50 (CTF 50) as an escort.

On 14 November 2015, ISIS claimed that the terrorist attacks that took place in Paris the previous day were retaliation for Opération Chammal. In response, France decided to expand the scope of its operations against the Islamist group, leading to significant assets being deployed.

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