Updated

The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, says the U.S. appreciates France's airstrike against Islamic State militants.

Dempsey, who was traveling in France, says the French hit a target north of Mosul, Iraq. He was not more specific.

Dempsey says the strike happened while he was visiting the D-Day landing beaches and American military cemetery at Normandy with his French counterpart, Gen. Pierre de Villiers, who informed him of the attack.

Dempsey told reporters traveling with him -- quote -- "The French were our very first ally and they are there again for us."

France announced that it conducted its first airstrike Friday against the militant Islamic State group, destroying a logistics depot that it controlled.