Italian FM Gentiloni Assumes Daesh May Be Defeated in Several Months

However, this may not be the end of the war against terrorism.

ROME (Sputnik) — The Daesh terrorist group may be defeated in the coming months, however it would not mean victory over terrorism, Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said.

"The rise of Daesh, which has started in summer 2014, may finish in the coming months, under certain conditions… The victory over Daesh depends on the way we will carry out our campaign in the coming weeks," Gentiloni told the Il Messagero newspaper in an interview published on Thursday.

According to Gentiloni, it is necessary to avoid repeating the mistakes which have been made over the past two years.

The issue of liberation of Raqqa, the Daesh stronghold in Syria, may be put on the agenda within several weeks, the minister said, adding that the victory over Daesh will become "a historic failure" for terrorism, though, it will not put an end to "fundamentalist Islamic terror."

Daesh is a Sunni radical group, which is outlawed in many countries across the world including Russia, the United States and Pakistan among other nations. The group has occupied vast territories in Iraq and Syria. A number of Daesh cells, with local insurgent groups pledging allegiance, are known to operate in Libya, Yemen and other territories across the Middle East and North Africa.