FILE PHOTO: French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian speaks during a news conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry (not pictured) in Cairo, Egypt September 17, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

PARIS (Reuters) - French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Monday that the Turkish offensive in Syria could undermine years of battling the Islamic State militant group.

“It’s a very serious issue. First of all because this Turkish operation in North-Eastern Syria could undermine five years of battling the Islamic State. The Islamic State is not dead,” Le Drian told Le Figaro newspaper.