William Molinié / Photo credits: LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP
Emmanuel Macron is on the planned air base in Jordan alongside French troops. The French soldiers exchanged the traditional Christmas meal with the Head of State on Thursday evening. A bit of celebration for these soldiers engaged in Operation Chammal which fights against the Islamic State in the Iraqi-Syrian zone.
Emmanuel Macron on Thursday welcomed the commitment of French troops in the Near and Middle East and, referring to Ukraine, insisted that the West could not “let Russia win”, in front of the French forces stationed in Jordan.
The head of state then joined by plane the 350 French soldiers engaged in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group from a Jordanian base. Smoked salmon, foie gras, poultry with morels and hazelnut chocolate log: the chef of the Élysée kitchens pulled out all the stops for the Christmas dinner with the troops. These soldiers are part of Operation Chammal which also includes 250 men in Iraq and Syria and constitutes the French part of the international coalition launched in 2014 against IS and coordinated by Washington.
Support missions for Iraqi troops
The four bursts, positioned on the planned air base in Jordan, today carry out very few strikes compared to the first four years of Operation Chammal when nearly 1,500 air raids were carried out by French airmen. In total, France participated in 10% of the anti-Daesh coalition strikes.
She was directly involved with ground troops in the recapture of key cities such as Mosul and Raqqa. Since then, the Islamic State has been disbanded and the terrorists have gone underground. From now on, the 350 French soldiers present in the Hashemite kingdom mainly pilot support missions for Iraqi troops.
Three French soldiers died in Iraq last summer
Operation Chammal is also available for the Army in Iraq. 600 French soldiers are deployed there, including around a hundred special forces. They are training the Iraqi army to make it autonomous in its fight against terrorism. The threats are numerous: ambushes, improvised explosive devices… The risks are omnipresent. Last summer, three French soldiers died in Iraq in the space of ten days.