ISIS caliphate is gone, but terror threat lives on

With the guns finally silent and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) expelled from Mosul, Iraq, and Raqqa, Syria — the twin capitals of the group’s self-proclaimed caliphate — President Trump signaled victory in his State of the Union address. “Last year, I pledged that we would work with our allies to extinguish ISIS from the face of the earth,” Trump said on Jan. 30. “One year later, I’m proud to report that the coalition to defeat ISIS has liberated very close to 100 percent of the territory just recently held by these killers in Iraq and Syria.”

Recapturing ISIS-held territory after a campaign of more than three years was certainly an important inflection point in the United States’ post-9/11 wars against Islamist extremist groups, and cause for celebration. According to U.S. military officials, the offensive required some of the toughest urban combat since World War II and led to the deaths of an estimated 70,000-plus ISIS fighters, and 120 of the group’s leaders. The loss of territory roughly the size of Switzerland robs ISIS of its major sources of income and its air of invincibility. The collapse also greatly diminishes the power of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s “Islamist homeland” narrative that drew an unprecedented 40,000-plus foreign fighters to the group’s black flag.


Source : Yahoo