France said Friday its fighter jets were conducting a "major" raid in Iraq as part of the US-led coalition offensive against the so-called ’Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ (ISIL) terrorist group.

France said Friday its fighter jets were conducting a "major" raid in Iraq as part of the US-led coalition offensive against the so-called 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant' (ISIL) terrorist group, days after members said the strikes were having effect.

"At the moment, a major raid is taking place," Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told BFMTV, refusing to detail the targets or the number of jets involved.

He said French planes based in the United Arab Emirates and more recently in Jordan had carried out "120 to 130 missions" since the start of the coalition offensive.

These include intelligence gathering missions. Compared to the United States, France has carried out only a handful of strikes on the militants.

The coalition of around 60 mainly Western and Arab states was formed several months after ISIL terrorists swept across northern Iraq, seizing swathes of territory and proclaiming a caliphate in parts of the country and neighboring Syria.

Paris has so far refused to join the United States in its air war against ISIL in Syria, but on Wednesday, President Francois Hollande said France was ready to step up its actions against the militants in Iraq.