Battle-hardened radical Islamist militants hiding out in the Syrian city of Raqqa are expected to fight to the death, but scores have been forced to surrender in recent weeks.
Mrs Parly told Europe 1 radio said: “France and its allies are working together to destroy Daesh (the Arabic acronym for ISIS), and we are all doing everything within our power to make that happen.
“We will fight until the end, and if jihadists are killed (by US-backed forces) fighting in Raqqa then good.
“We are close to winning the battle (for Raqqa). And what we need to do right now is to keep on fighting in order to neutralise a maximum number of jihadists, which is essentially what we have been doing for months. “Like I said, we need to see this battle through to the end.”
Hardcore ISIS fighters are expected to “fight to the death,” US coalition spokesman Colonel Ryan Dillon said last week, although scores have been forced into surrendering recently as US-backed forces continue to close in on their last remaining strongholds.
Some 400 jihadists are believed to be holed up in a small part of Raqqa surrounded by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias, according to Mr Dillon.
He added: “The foreign (ISIS) fighters, we fully expect them to fight until the end – there’s a hardcore of fighters. But we have seen a rate of four to five fighters surrendering a week, including emirs – local leaders within Raqqa – over the past month.”
The SDF said on Sunday that the battle to take Raqqa back from ISIS should be over “within days”.
ISIS seized control of Raqqa in 2014, and turned it into the group’s de facto Syrian capital.