US Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats, said at a Senate Intelligence Committee meeting that "President Bashar al-Assad has defeated the opposition and is now seeking to control over all Syria".[20] France becomes the first European country to take back citizens arrested on suspicion of links to the Islamic State, with 130 ISIL suspects held in SDF custody expected to be repatriated to France within upcoming weeks. Only the US, Lebanon, Russia, Indonesia and Sudan, had so far agreed to repatriate their nationals.