Hollande: French aircraft carrier will return to fight ISIS

French president Francois Hollande said the French Navy aircraft carrier FS Charles de Gaulle would be sent back to the Middle East this fall to reinforce the fight against ISIS terrorists.

The president also said there was a possibility for France to send additional ground troops for training and support to take back Mosul, in Iraq, The Associated Press reported.

FS Charles de Gaulle was previously deployed to fight ISIS in the aftermath of the November 2015 terrorist attacks on Paris which left 130 people dead and hundreds wounded.

The aircraft carrier spent more than four months deployed conducting air strikes against terrorist strongholds in Syria between November 2015 and March 2016.

FS Charles de Gaulle’s task force was comprised of 3.200 soldiers, two French destroyers and a replenishment ship, one British and one German frigate.

During the group’s deployment in the Persian Gulf, French aircraft conducted 23 reconnaissance flights while Dassault Rafale fighter jets performed an overall of 370 sorties.

This number of flights allowed the group to carry out a total of 80 airstrikes against Daesh positions since entering the Gulf on November 19, 2015.