President Donald Trump on Wednesday told the Ministers of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS that the Islamic State will be "100 percent" defeated sometime next week. The majority of ISIS strongholds have been liberated, with the rest being set free over the next week, POLITICO reported.
“The United States military, our coalition partners and the Syrian Democratic forces have liberated virtually all of the territory previously held by ISIS in Syria and Iraq," Trump said.
Currently, ISIS has about one percent of the land in Iraq and Syria. The United States is expected to gain control of it over the next week, something Trump made clear wasn't an "official announcement."
"It should be formally announced sometime probably next week that we will have 100 percent of the caliphate," Trump said. "But I want to wait for the official word. I don’t want to say too early.”
According to POLITICO, "the caliphate continues to hold territory in Afghanistan, Libya, the Sinai and West Africa."
Back in December, President Trump announced that he was pulling troops out of Syria. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had to reassure the coalition that America pulling troops out of Syria was not the end of our involvement, The Independent reported. Pompeo also wanted to make sure other members of the coalition help keep ISIS from returning to Syria and Iraq.
Senior officials from Turkey, France, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Morocco and Iraq were present during President Trump's speech on Wednesday.
This is a breaking news story. As more information becomes available, this post will be updated.
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