On Sunday, the Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly spoke of a resurgence of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

Despite the fall of its last bastion in March 2019, the jihadist group continues to organize to strike the pro-regime fighters and claims attacks on European soil.

French Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly expressed concern on Sunday about the "resurgence" of the jihadist group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, against which the French military remain mobilized within an international coalition led by Washington.

"France considers that Daesh

[Arab acronym of ISIS]

is still present. We can even speak of a form of resurgence of Daesh in Syria and Iraq," she said in the show " Political questions "on France Inter and FranceInfoTV, in partnership with Le Monde.

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His statements come as the outgoing administration of US President Donald Trump has announced its intention to withdraw 500 troops in mid-January to leave only 2,500 in Iraq.

Almost all of the troops from other member states of the anti-ISIS coalition left the country at the start of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

"Since the fall of Baghouz, in the middle valley of the Euphrates where the last stronghold of the IS was concentrated, we can see that Daesh is regaining strength in Syria", where the jihadist group claimed an attack in which 39 soldiers regime were killed on December 30, argued the French minister.

1,100 victims in Syria since March 2019

The organization, which has claimed responsibility for multiple attacks on European soil in recent years, "is also reconstituting itself in Iraq. So Daesh is not eradicated in the Levant. This is the reason why we are still there, through training actions and through our hunting ", with four Rafale engaged in the international anti-IS coalition led by the United States, said Florence Parly.

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ISIS had seized large swathes of Syrian and Iraqi territory from 2014. Despite its rout in Syria in March 2019 with the fall of its "caliphate", ISIS continues to launch deadly attacks in Syria , in particular in the vast desert of Badiya which extends from the central province of Homs to that of Deir Ezzor, on the border with Iraq.

Since the fall of Baghouz in March 2019, attacks carried out by ISIS have killed more than 1,100 pro-regime fighters, including soldiers and members of foreign paramilitary groups.