WASHINGTON: US defense secretary Jim Mattis quit Thursday as President Donald Trump weathered an escalating backlash at home and abroad over his sudden decision to pull all troops from Syria.Trump steadfastly defended the withdrawal of the 2,000-strong force from Syria, vowing that the United States would no longer be the "policeman of the Middle East" and insisting that the Islamic State movement had been defeated.Mattis, a retired general seen as a moderating force on the often impulsive president, made little attempt to hide his disagreements with Trump. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo

France is a leading member of the U.S.-led coalition fighting militants in Syria and Iraq and has special forces based in the north of the country, deployed alongside Kurdish and Arab forces, and carries out air strikes against the group. The last pockets of this terrorist organization must be defeated militarily once and for all,” Defence Minister Florence Parly said on Twitter..

Europe Minister Nathalie Loiseau told C-News television that for now French troops would stay.
Reacting to yesterday's announcement by the United States on the withdrawal of their forces from Syria, France's Defense Minister Florence Parly says on Twitter that ISIL has not yet been driven out of Syria.