French ministers visit Iraq in support of ISIS fight

BAGHDAD, Iraq – The foreign and defense ministers of France are to affirm their country’s support in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) group during a visit to Baghdad on Saturday, August 26.

Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Defense Minister Florence Parly, who arrived in the Iraqi capital on Friday evening, August 25, are scheduled to meet Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

Their visit comes as Iraqi forces battle to seize the northern city of Tal Afar from ISIS following their July victory over the group in second city Mosul.

Speaking on the plane to Baghdad, Le Drian said Iraq faced the dual challenge of “a war that is coming to an end and the beginning of the stabilization and reconstruction of the country”. (READ: ISIS now controls less than 7% of Iraq, military says)

The ministers will also meet Iraqi Kurdish leader Massud Barzani in Arbil, where they are to echo calls by Pentagon chief Jim Mattis for the postponement of next month’s independence referendum.

France is a key member of a coalition backing Iraqi forces in their campaign to retake vast tracts of Iraq that the jihadists grabbed in a 2014 offensive.

French forces have carried out air and artillery strikes in support of Iraqi operations.

“As long as our common enemy has not been eradicated, France will continue to take part” in the campaign, Parly said.

France, which refused to take part in the 2003 American-led invasion that brought down dictator Saddam Hussein, is keen to participate in the reconstruction of Iraq.

The cost of reconstruction has been estimated at between $700 billion and $1 trillion.

The ministers are also set to discuss the fate of a small number of French jihadists captured by Iraqi forces, according to a French diplomatic source.

Paris says up to 700 French nationals are fighting for ISIS in Syria and Iraq, where around 300 French jihadists have been killed since 2014.– Rappler.com