Macron Announced Military Defeat of ISIS in Coming Weeks

Emmanuel Macron, the President of France, while outlining his plans to strengthen France's military power, stated that the Islamic State group, ISIS, will face military defeat in Syria and Iraq in the coming weeks. According to AFP, Mr. Macron said on Friday aboard a military ship in the port of Toulon in southern France: "As a result of the efforts of the countries involved in this battle, the military organization of the ISIS group in Iraq and Syria has been completely defeated." He added, "I am confident that in the coming weeks we will achieve complete success on the ground as well." The French President also noted that "after years of war and crisis, we now want to declare our full commitment alongside our allies to create stability, rebuild, and assist the people in these regions." The ISIS group, whose leaders and fighters are mostly fleeing, has lost almost all of its controlled areas in Syria and Iraq. France recently withdrew two of its 12 Rafale fighter jets from the operational area but still has about 1,200 military personnel engaged in the international coalition against ISIS. Mr. Macron added that although the military campaign will continue, France will align a significant portion of its aid in the new year with the needs for reconstruction and development. He did not announce the details of this policy. The French government has increased its military budget by about 1.8 billion euros, bringing it to 34.2 billion euros for the new year. The French President also emphasized his commitment to raising France's defense budget to the threshold of two percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product, a benchmark set by NATO for the defense budgets of member states years ago. According to Mr. Macron, the increase in France's military budget includes the "modernization" of the country's nuclear arsenal over the five years of his presidency, and he described nuclear deterrence as "the foundation of France's defense strategy for the past 50 years."