Supporting military operations against the Islamic State group is key to preventing terror attacks at home, French President Francois Hollande said on Monday during a visit to Iraq.
Hollande had already visited in 2014 and remains the most prominent head of state to come to Iraq since the launch two and half years ago of a US-led coalition against the jihadists.
The French President, who is travelling with Defence Minister Jean-Yves le Drian, will also stop in the autonomous northern region of Kurdistan during his one-day visit.
“Taking action against terrorism here in Iraq is also preventing acts of terrorism on our own soil,” he said at a base of Iraq’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service near Baghdad.