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AFP
Toulon, France
French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday that the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq would be defeated militarily"in the coming weeks,"as he laid out plans for bolstering France's defence capabilities.
"Today, thanks to the efforts of all the nations involved, the Daesh military organisation in the Levant is almost completely defeated,"Macron said in a speech aboard a helicopter carrier in the southern port of Toulon, using an Arabic acronym for IS.
"I'm confident that in the coming weeks we will achieve a military victory on the ground,"he said.
"I want us now to firmly commit with our partners to stabilisation, reconstruction and aide to populations"after years of conflict, he said.
With many of its leaders dead and its fighters on the run, IS has now lost almost all the land it once controlled in Syria and Iraq.
