Paris will deploy an additional 600 soldiers to fight jihadists in Africa while also facing challenges in getting allies on board with its combat mission in the Sahel region.
With these additional troops, the number of French soldiers stationed in the region south of the Sahara Desert will increase to 5,100 by the end of February, Defense Minister Florence Parly said in a statement on Sunday. The move is set to strengthen the forces involved in the Paris-led Operation Barkhane, targeted against diverse jihadist groups, like the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISIS-GS), which is linked to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in Iraq and Syria.
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