France to withdraw troops from Iraq to help fight coronavirus at home

2020-03-25 07:04:30

(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) PARIS, March 25 (KUNA) -- France is withdraw its military contingent deployed in Iraq to bring troops home to help in the fight against coronavirus, media and defence sources said Wednesday.
Earlier, President Emmanuel Macron announced he was putting in place a new military operation to provide support in the fight against the rapidly-spreading virus.
The General Command of the French army said that its troops, which are mainly on training missions with the Iraqi army, would be brought back "taking into account, notably, the health crisis," France Info radio reported.
There are an estimated 200 French training personnel currently in Iraq as part of the anti-terrorist "Operation Shammal" and French soldiers have been deployed in Iraq since 2014 after the emergence of so-called Islamic State.
The withdrawal has been coordinated with Iraqi authorities, the media indicated.
Macron's new, domestic military operation, called "Operation Resilience," will mobilise the military to provide logistics, health and protection" for the population. (end)
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