PARIS: France launched “massive” air strikes on the self-styled Islamic State (IS) group’s de facto capital in Syria Sunday night, destroying a militant training camp and a munitions dump in the city of Raqqa in Syria, where Iraqi intelligence officials say the attacks on Paris were planned.Twelve aircraft including 10 fighter jets dropped a total of 20 bombs in the biggest air strikes since France extended its bombing campaign against the extremist group to Syria in September, a Defence Ministry statement said.

The jets launched from sites in Jordan and the Persian Gulf, in coordination with United States (US) forces.

On the sidelines of the G20 summit in Turkey on Sunday, France’s Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said his country was justified in taking action in Syria.

“It was normal to take the initiative and action and France had the legitimacy to do so. We did it already in the past, we have conducted new airstrikes in Raqqa today,” Fabius said.