Germany and France declared Friday that the ISIS terrorist group has not been defeated.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the group is far from defeated, and instead is morphing into an asymmetrical warfare force after the militant group lost almost all of the territory it once controlled in Syria.
Merkel’s remarks at the inauguration of the Berlin headquarters of Germany’s foreign intelligence agency BND contradicted statements by US President Donald Trump that the terrorists have been defeated.
“The ISIS has been luckily driven out of its territory but this unfortunately doesn’t mean that it has disappeared,” Merkel said. “It is transforming into an asymmetrical warfare force. And this, of course, is a threat.”
The conservative chancellor said monitoring events in Syria was one of the BND’s top priorities, which also include tracking cyber threats and fake news designed to influence democratic elections.
In Baghdad, French Defense Minister Florence Parly warned that "the work is not over" in the fight against ISIS, despite the terrorists facing the loss of their last scrap of territory.
"The territorial caliphate, which has not yet been wiped out, is being defeated," she said in the Iraqi capital.
"We must continue the fight against ISIS and terrorism in the region because ISIS is probably in the process of reorganizing underground and spreading out."
US-backed fighters in neighboring Syria are gearing up for a final push to oust ISIS from the sole village it still holds, all that remains of a proto-state that once spanned swathes of both countries.
Trump, who committed late last year to pulling US troops out of Syria, has said he expects a final declaration of victory over ISIS next week.
Parly called for France "to strengthen the relationship of cooperation and partnership with Iraq", both as part of a US-led coalition and bilaterally, to face the "persistent threat" of ISIS.
Trump sparked the ire of Iraqi officials last week when he said he plans to keep American forces in their country to keep an eye on neighboring Iran, also a major power-broker in Baghdad.
Defense ministers from the anti-ISIS coalition, of which France is a central member, are set to meet soon to determine how it can maintain a regional "presence", Parly said.
"It is a proposal that will be made subject to Iraq accepting the conditions of this presence. We are on sovereign territory."
