ZCZC
BFF-46
SYRIA-IRAQ-CONFLICT-FRANCE-JIHADISTS
IS to lose all Syria territory by 2019: French army chief
PARIS, Sept 6, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The Islamic State group will have been
driven from all the territory it once controlled as a self-declared
“caliphate” before the end of the year, French military chief Francois
Lecointre said Thursday.
The jihadists, who conquered vast stretches of Iraq and Syria in 2014, have
lost all but a pocket of land in Syria’s eastern Deir Ezzor province between
the Euphrates river and Iraqi border, though they remain present in the
Syrian desert.
Using an Arabic acronym for IS, Lecointre predicted “the end of the
physical caliphate of Daesh before the end of the year, probably late
autumn”.
France is part of the US-led coalition that has been fighting IS since 2014
and is now supporting Kurdish and Arab fighters of the Syrian Democratic
Forces as they battle to oust the jihadists from their last holdout.
“Once the physical caliphate has fallen… we will pose the question of how
to reconfigure Operation Inherent Resolve,” Lecointre said of the coalition.
Speaking to reporters, the general pledged to downscale the French troop
contingent — currently more than 1,000-strong — “as soon as I can”.
The Syrian conflict has become increasingly complex since it grew out of
anti-government protests in 2011, drawing in other major powers including
Russia and Turkey.
BSS/AFP/RY/1725 hrs