21 April 2016•Update: 22 April 2016
PARIS
The necessary conditions to defeat Daesh are “in the process of coming together” and the extremist group has lost 40 percent of the territory it once controlled, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Thursday.
“I note that Daesh is retreating and that Daesh is retreating significantly,” Le Drain said in an interview with France Info radio. “Since Daesh's occupation of Syria and Iraq, since the attempt to attack Baghdad in June 2014, I think Daesh has lost between 30 and 40 percent of its territory.”
The minister said an international coalition was providing air support for local fighters seeking to free Mosul and Raqqa, Daesh’s strongholds in Iraq and Syria, by the end of the year.
He added: “For the first time, I have this slightly optimistic message.”
