PARIS (AFP) - United States Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Saturday (Dec 19) visited France's Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier in the Gulf where it is being used to launch strikes on Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) targets in Syria and Iraq, the French defence ministry said.

It was the first visit by a US Pentagon chief to the French flagship aircraft carrier, which is at the heart of a stepped-up air campaign against the militants in Syria and Iraq.