Paris (AFP)

Francois Hollande, president at the time of multiple attacks claimed in France by the group Islamic State (EI), on Monday welcomed the death of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a "blow" but not "fatal" for the organization.

US President Donald Trump announced on Sunday the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi during a US military operation in northwestern Syria.

"I think of the families of the victims of the attacks, both of November 13 that those who followed: they now know that the head of the terrorist organization that had sponsored the attacks is dead," reacted Francois Hollande on France 2 Monday .

"This is a victory for the entire coalition that led the war against Daesh," he added. For ISIS, "it's a blow, because it's the leader, he who proclaimed the caliphate and operations around the world, (...) because the organization is in disrepair, has lost territories ".

But this is "not a fatal blow, because this organization that has no territory still has fighters, and can still have more if the troubles are created in the camps" where they are held by the Kurds in Syria said the former head of state.

"The work is not over," he added, criticizing the US withdrawal from Syria, to "serious consequences". "The question is put to the Europeans, NATO: are we able to defend ourselves, to build a coalition without the Americans?", Asked Francois Hollande, for whom "France must take an initiative" in that Sens.

President Emmanuel Macron tweeted Sunday: "The death of al-Baghdadi is a blow against Daesh, but it is only a step." The fight continues with our partners in the international coalition for the terrorist organization be definitely defeated ".

Asked about the words used by Donald Trump to describe the raid on the head of the IS, Francois Hollande has been crazy: "This is the Trump method, a speech not controlled, where it is the instinct that speaks more than the intelligence, which fuels hatred rather than consecrating victory against terrorism. "

"Words matter, they are echoed everywhere, we are not in a film" but in "a cruel reality" with "women raped and people massacred," he insisted.

© 2019 AFP