Iraq President Kicks off France Visit

  • 2/25/2019
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Iraqi President Barham Salih is expected to kick off a two-day visit to France on Monday by holding talks with his counterpart Emmanuel Macron. Discussions will focus on the countrys security and the fight against the ISIS terrorist group in the region. The French presidency said Paris intends to reaffirm its full support to Iraq to face challenges regarding security, stability, inclusive governance and the countrys reconstruction. Salih and Macron are also set to address the case of French citizens who traveled to fight with ISIS in Iraq and Syria and are now being detained by the US-led coalitions forces. The US has called for countries to take back and try their own nationals. Frances official position states that French "terrorist" fighters "must be tried wherever they committed their crimes," according to the French foreign affairs ministry. Two years after declaring victory against ISIS, the terrorist group appears to be regrouping to wage an insurgency in Iraq. US and Iraqi officials warned last week that extremists facing defeat in Syria are slipping across the border into Iraq, where they are destabilizing the countrys fragile security. Hundreds — likely more than 1,000 — militants have crossed the open, desert border in the past six months, defying a massive operation by US, Kurdish, and allied forces to stamp out the remnants of the group in eastern Syria. In recent months, the group has carried out kidnappings, assassinations and roadside ambushes in Iraq aimed at intimidating the local population and financing the groups extortion rackets.

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