Macron Predicts International Coalition to Announce Victory against ISIS ‘within Weeks’

French President Emmanuel Macron. (AFP)
French President Emmanuel Macron. (AFP)
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Macron Predicts International Coalition to Announce Victory against ISIS ‘within Weeks’

French President Emmanuel Macron. (AFP)
French President Emmanuel Macron. (AFP)

French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Friday that the ISIS was “completely” defeated in Syria and Iraq, predicting that the international coalition fighting the terrorist organization will announce victory “within weeks.”

"Today, thanks to the efforts of all the nations involved, the ISIS organization is almost completely defeated," Macron said in a speech aboard a helicopter carrier in the southern port of Toulon.

"I'm confident that in the coming weeks we will achieve a military victory on the ground," he said.

"I want us now to firmly commit with our partners to stabilization, reconstruction and aide to populations" after years of conflict, he said.

With many of its leaders dead and its fighters on the run, ISIS has now lost almost all the land it once controlled in Syria and Iraq.

France, which recently pulled out two of the 12 Rafale fighter jets it had been operating in the region, currently has about 1,200 personnel in the international coalition fighting the terrorists.

Macron said that although combat operations would continue, the country would "adapt" its contribution this year to developments, without providing details.

The French government has increased the 2018 defense budget by 1.8 billion euros, bringing it to 34.2 billion euros ($42 billion).

Macron reiterated his pledge to lift French defense spending to two percent of the country's GDP by 2025, in line with the target agreed to by NATO members in 2014.



Released Pro-Palestinian Protest Leader Sues Trump for $20 Mn

Former Columbia University student and pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil at a "Welcome Home" rally on the steps of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York, USA, 22 June 2025. (EPA)
Former Columbia University student and pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil at a "Welcome Home" rally on the steps of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York, USA, 22 June 2025. (EPA)
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Released Pro-Palestinian Protest Leader Sues Trump for $20 Mn

Former Columbia University student and pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil at a "Welcome Home" rally on the steps of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York, USA, 22 June 2025. (EPA)
Former Columbia University student and pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil at a "Welcome Home" rally on the steps of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York, USA, 22 June 2025. (EPA)

Mahmoud Khalil, one of the most prominent leaders of US pro-Palestinian campus protests, sued the Trump administration Thursday for $20 million over his arrest and detention by immigration agents.

Khalil, a legal permanent resident in the United States who is married to a US citizen and has a US-born son, had been in custody following his arrest in March.

The 30-year-old was freed from a federal immigration detention center in Louisiana last month, hours after a judge ordered his release on bail.

"The administration carried out its illegal plan to arrest, detain, and deport Mr. Khalil 'in a manner calculated to terrorize him and his family,' the claim says," according to the Center for Constitutional Rights which is backing Khalil.

Khalil suffered "severe emotional distress, economic hardship (and) damage to his reputation," the claim adds.

The Columbia University graduate was a figurehead of student protests against US ally Israel's war in Gaza, and the Trump administration labeled him a national security threat.

Khalil called the lawsuit a "first step towards accountability."

"Nothing can restore the 104 days stolen from me. The trauma, the separation from my wife, the birth of my first child that I was forced to miss," he said in the statement.

"There must be accountability for political retaliation and abuse of power."

Khalil has previously shared his "horrendous" experience in detention, where he "shared a dorm with over 70 men, absolutely no privacy, lights on all the time."

President Donald Trump's government has justified pushing for Khalil's deportation by saying his continued presence in the United States could carry "potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences."

Khalil's detention came amid Trump's campaign against top US universities in recent months, with the president facing off against Columbia, Harvard and other schools over foreign student enrollment while cutting federal grants and threatening to strip accreditation.

Beyond his legal case, Khalil's team has expressed fear he could face threats out of detention.