French forces confirm joint operation against Islamic State-loyal militants
Caleb Weiss over at The Long War Journal reports the French military confirmed its forces took part in a large-scale joint operation in early April against Islamic State-loyal militants in northern Mali, close to the border with Niger.
A French military spokesman said that “French commandos and Malian forces began a ‘reconnaissance and control operation’ in the Akabar region” on March 28, “working in liaison with the Nigerien army and a local self-defense group.” The combined forces came into contact with militants from the so-called Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) on April 1. The following gunfight left at least 30 jihadists dead, according to the French spokesman.
This is not the first time French special forces have conducted joint operations with the Tuareg groups against ISGS militants. In February, they first clashed with the jihadists in a renewed offensive. It was later reported that French special operations troops coordinated with the Tuaregs in the battle.
The Islamic State-loyal forces, led by Abu Walid al Sahrawi, are referred to as “Islamic State in the Greater Sahara” (ISGS), and have been linked to several attacks in Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali. Say what you will about the French political leadership; their SPECOPS teams are first rate, and 30 dead jihadists is a good day’s work.
Category: Terror War
Bon sur toi Fabulous Furious French Fighting Frogs.
Never corner a poodle
Glad to see the Tuareg had a hand in this, also. Kudos to all involved.
My Tuareg has heated leather and all the bells and whistles.
Never liked the colour though, but price was right
Those French Commandos are some serious warriors.
Anyone here familiar with the weapons systems he is carrying?
I’m not sure just what he is holding, but it looks like a 5.56 rifle slung across his chest beneath. No way to see just what is in his pistol pocket, either.
Just curious.
He’s carrying two. The one closest to his chest is a Baguette 5.56. The other is a Croissant Grenade Launcher. (Sorry, I just can’t help myself sometimes. Yes, I’ll try harder next time.)
So the pistol must be a Pinot 9mm?
Indeed, it’s a Pinot Bourgogne Model 1964. Good show!
Thank you!
Id take a stale baguette over a Chauchaut
Or, as Gunny Emery called it, “The Pice of Crappé.”
RCAF, Remember back in the 150’S, Popular Science magazine had advertisers selling the Chauchat’s with the muzzle end welded so one could not shoot it unless it was put on a lathe and drilled out.
Unfortunately, I missed out on the Post-World Wars Golden Age of milsurp guns 🙁
I would love to try an 8mm Lebel Chauchaut. Supposedly they function WAY better than the ’06 ones.
RCAF; When I was a member of the East Rockaway LI NY FD 1977-1982 before moving and finishing my Volly time, Our Dept Doctor whom I used wanted to sell me his Australian Owen Sub Gun which he purchased at the Lionel train store with the welded plug in the muzzle before the changes were
made to cut the receiver and make it inoperable. I shied away from the deal as at the time I was working for Brink’s Armored and didn’t want any problems if anything happened that would put my job in jepordy and not knowing the law to well.
Ah, the golden years! When no one questioned why you would want a mil-surplus firearm.
Those with wives might have had to explain why one may want to spend more money on another milsurp…
Graybeard;
Those were the days you could get the surplus guns through the mail. Macy’s were selling those short barrel British Lee Enfields for around $12.00-20.00 apiece if I remember before the 68 firearms act. I also remember those tear gas mail order pens plus the Stoeger .22 lugers I THINK they were called. Anyone help me out on this one.
Unfortunately, Jeff LPH 3, my income as a $0.90/hr short-order cook would not allow me the opportunity to procure one of those Lee-Enfields.
But I remember having the chance! What youngsters today don’t know about the past.
We STILL use No.4 Enfields and produce new.303! These are only used for wildlife defence now.
2/17 Air Cav. You said a Croissant, Well that’s BUTTER than nothing since it’s a “French” Croissant
/grin
The rifle closest to the camera is an HK-MP5…look at the ejection port under the Red-Dot sight and small hole in center of the muzzle device aka Silencer, can, pfft-pfft machine, sound suppression device, et al…
That DID look like a hush puppy-equipped Weapon to me!
It looks to me like he has both an H&K MP5SD6 and an FAMAS F1 in a most curious posture.
Can’t see the holstered pistol but probably a PAMAS G1 (French Beretta M92FS)
Sorry, I ruined the joke’s continuity. 🙁
It’s okay. We were running out of material anyway.
As I understand it, French troops call the FAMAS “Le Clarion” because it’s good for making noise and not much else. Another one I’ve seen printed is “The Range Rifle,” because it only works on a nice, clean range. A far cry from the MAS-49, which reputedly could be maintained with motor oil.
I’ve heard conflicting reports about “The Bugle”‘s nickname but you’re right about how useless it is, TOW. Due to being made with the wrong rifling twist for NATO spec SS109 it has an effective range of a hair further than you can throw it. Unfortunate as it is a sound rifle otherwise. The later “space-age” looking ones you commonly see had the rifling issue rectified but how and why the Frogs never fixed the damn thing in the first place is beyond me. Except, you know obvious French Rifle Joke goes here.
The F1 model also requires steel-cased ammo, because the extractor will apparently rip brass cases apart. Not sure if the G2 model fixes that little issue, though as far as I know it can at least accept STANAG mags, unlike the F1. In any case, the news says they’re now looking to dump the FAMAS in favor of the HK 416.
But can it pass the drop test?
Did not know about the steel casing requirement. I should probably revise my statement about it being a sound platform and just add “on paper” to the end.
Frankly I don’t really understand why bullpups still exist as more than a concept. I know, decent barrel length in a compact weapon but balance, overly complicated action/trigger groups and cumbersome reloading sort of cancel out that whole “but the barrel length!” thing.
Indeed. The Tavor balances terribly and leaks gas into the shooter’s face. The FN2000 is gimmicky with a price tag that makes heroin look cheap. I read something by a British vet who says that the L85A2 model improved the L85 (which threw brass from the right-side ejection port into a right-handed shooter’s face, in defiance of all known laws of physics) “from godawful to just regular awful.” The Groza AK bullpup’s ergonomics are downright masochistic. The Red Chinese, after two decades of insisting that the bullpup QBZ-95 is so awesome that lefties can shoot it without modification (yeah, you first! ), have just admitted that it actually sucks and they want to replace it with a conventional-layout rifle. People like the AUG, but it still needs modification for a southpaw shooter (though they at least had the foresight to plan for this and ship each one with drop-in lefty parts) and will never take a mag change as fast as any conventional-layout rifle, plus it apparently can have G-36ish melting issues in the plastic furniture if you lay down too much fire at a time.
The best bullpup I own and have fired is the Norc Type97( civ QBZ95) It has a way better trigger than most.
You’re all bad boys. Very, very bad boys. Thank goodness. I thought I might have been only one of two.
Hey, to each his own! Hell, some people even like glocks. Never could figure out why…
Me neither, TOW.
I suppose that, at least in theory, a bullpup design has some advantages in clearing a room during an urban combat scenario, but even were I to have to do that I’d take a normal carbine platform, were I to have my ‘druthers.
I suppose that the bullpup shortcomings are mitigated by adequate training, as are most issues with a platform IMHO.
But I also freely admit that I must come to the topic from the perspective of a private citizen protecting his own loved ones, and my tactical needs and abilities are very different from others.
And after reading TOW’s post, I may have to change my mind on the “mitigated” clause.
And here’s my snowflake moment of “I can’t enjoy it so I don’t like it.”
As a lefty I can’t even shoot most bullpups without either switching hands or eating the damn bolt neither of which I find appealing in a rifle. The ones that allow switching over as you said are ungodly expensive and while I don’t mind polymer, I’m sorry but unless that stuff is infused with carbon fiber it’s going to warp over time with an enthusiastic user.
Don’t get me wrong, they look kind of cool but they seem more to me like the answer to a question nobody asked.
I’m just glad that the manufacturers have moved to providing some firearms for southpaws and ladies.
Being of a dexter and masculing disposition and not of a sinister or feminine persuasion, I’ve not been directly impacted, but have had many friends who have been. That many of the better selling firearms are being offered in configurations which work for them is, IMHO, a very good thing.
*masculine* not *masculing*
…sigh
Oh man. I just got lumped in with the girls.
Wait, that might be a good problem to have.
Just saw another article about a Malian village forming its own militia against IS, because neither their government nor the French can be bothered to do anything in their remote neck of the woods. Unfortunately, thanks to Mali’s wonderful gun laws, all the have are single-shot shotguns and a few muzzleloaders, against IS assholes with AKs and truck-mounted HMGs.
Ok, I keep looking at this dude’s kit and it just gets more and more curious.
Why is he dressed like a mall ninja duck hunter?
How does he expect to shoulder that MP5?
What the hell is that rod leaning into him? Tactical fishing pole?
Yes, I’m sure it’s a radio antennae of some sort hanging off a piece of equipment or another guy that got cropped out in the foreground but.. Damn, look at the size of that thing!
Save some for later, buddy.
Holy Beau Gueste.
Never got to go to work dressed like that. Nice work.
Yeah, French folks are pretty much like other folks who act a lot like ordinary folks around the world. It’s the ruling elites and academia who seem to have all the good ideas that the rest of us have the sense to know will never work.
I must admit I’m a bit surprised at the legs this post has grown, but not in the humor of some of the comments. The usual suspects have chimed in, just as I expected they would, and I’d be disappointed if they didn’t. The posts with real world experience in firearms were just bonus, and it never ceases to amaze me of the broad and deep knowledge of TAH members on just about any subject- someone here is expert, or thinks they are- and then let the fur fly in a (mostly) a respectful manner.
OK, rant off, but for the record I’ve never fired a bullpup with anything resembling a decent trigger. Maybe they’re out there somewhere…
I have a lot of guns and I have to Say that my Steyr Aug is my favorite by far.
It is the easiest of all my rifles to clean, even more so than an AK
I can assure you that the plastic on it or will not melt even if you empty multiple magazines at fast as you can pull the trigger
The entire front half of the rifle gets very hot after 3 mags and you can only hold it by the vertical fore grip
The main problem with bullpups is that they are either righty of lefty
Keltec came out with downward and a forward ejecting bullpups
No military has ever chosen a Keltec, but forward ejection is a great idea