French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that ISIS faced complete military defeat in Iraq and Syria within months but warned the battle against terrorism would go on.
"We have won in Raqqa and the coming weeks and months, I am quite sure, will allow us to achieve complete military victory in the Iraq-Syria theater," Macron told French naval personnel deployed in Abu Dhabi for the war against ISIS.
"But that won't be the end of this struggle. Long-term stabilization and combating terrorist groups will be indispensable complements to the inclusive and pluralist political solution we want to see emerge in the region."
A military band played "La Marseillaise" as Macron visited the naval base at Abu Dhabi's Port Zayed, and an honor guard met him before he boarded and walked through the French frigate Jean Bart.
The French president later addressed gathered sailors there. He described the base as a crucial part of France's battle against extremists in the region like ISIS.
Macron was in the United Arab Emirates capital for the opening of the Louvre Abu Dhabi -- the first museum to carry the famed brand outside France -- which he hailed as a "bridge between civilizations" and religions.
