PARIS – On the eve of the Global Coalition Against Daesh Ministerial Meeting in Riyadh, France’s Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna, said the coalition’s work is critical since the terrorist group “has not abandoned its agenda.”
The meeting, hosted by Saudi Arabia and the United States, was attended by all coalition members. Established in 2014, during the height of Daesh’s dominance, the alliance has now accomplished the majority of its goals, liberating all regions held by the group, first in Iraq in 2017 and subsequently in Syria in 2019.
However, French authorities feel the coalition is still vital since the threat has merely evolved. Daesh, according to the French authorities, “remains a dangerous terrorist actor” in many places of the world, including Africa, Afghanistan, and even Syria.
The group “is not currently in a strong enough position to carry out new attacks on our territory” as it did in 2015 and 2016, French officials claimed in a recent statement, alluding to a string of mass casualty events.
It does, however, strive to exploit ongoing insecurity, mainly in Syria, but also in select African nations and Afghanistan, in order “to rebuild its bases and regain the ability to recruit and project new threats.”
“We are dealing with a group that has not at all abandoned its global agenda,” it continued.
The conference in Riyadh was considered as an opportunity to undertake a security assessment, allowing coalition military personnel to present their perception of the threat.
