A rare, official image of a secretive French C-160G Gabriel intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft supporting the ongoing U.S.-led campaign against ISIS on both sides of the Iraqi-Syrian border has emerged online. Only for a very short time...

C-160G Gabriel intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft (Picture source: Twitter account of Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve)

On May 17, 2018, the official Twitter account of Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, the top command in charge of operations against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, made a post lauding France’s contributions to the air war against the terrorists. The Tweet included a picture of French Rafales and a C-160G Gabriel.

“Air support from France is a major part of coalition Defeat Daesh efforts through Operation Roundup,” the social media post said, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS and the nickname of the new cross-border mission. “CJTF-OIR works by, with and through partner forces to achieve a lasting defeat of the terrorist organization’s remnants in Iraq and Syria.” The task force quickly took down the post. The replacement Tweet featured the same message, but only had the picture of the Rafales.