PARIS (Sputnik) – French President Francois Hollande said on Saturday in a New Year address to French people that he was going to visit Iraq on January 2, in order to meet with French servicemen deployed there.
“We have not put an end to the scourge of terrorism. It is necessary to continue the struggle on our territory as well as abroad, where we are taking part in military operations – in Mali, Syria and Iraq, where I will go the day after tomorrow in order to welcome our servicemen,” Hollande said.
France is a member of a US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State (Daesh) terrorist group, which took responsibility for last year’s Paris attacks and which is outlawed in many countries including Russia, in Syria and Iraq since 2014.
