“ISIL is on the defensive but it remains resilient, dangerous, and the fight is far from over.”
Brett McGurk, Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL), confirmed these details in a briefing of representatives of the 66-member coalition in Washington on Friday.
The coalition representatives met in order to review the campaign’s progress to date and discuss further operations. They also addressed the issue of humanitarian aid and stabilization of areas that are liberated.
“With the support of the Coalition,” reads a media statement issued after the meeting, “local forces have now recaptured nearly 10,000 square kilometres in northeastern Syria and have retaken nearly 30,000 square kilometres in Iraq,” including key roads connecting Raqqa with Mosul and Anbar province with Jordan.
The coalition is active both in the air and on the ground. “Twelve Coalition partners have played a role in carrying out nearly 13,000 air strikes.” While on the ground, “seventeen Coalition partners have deployed personnel to advise, assist and/or training Iraq forces.”
“The Coalition has trained over 30,000 personnel, including Iraqi Army, Counterterrorism Service (CTS), Kurdish Peshmerga, police, tribal fighters, and border security forces.”
Progress has also been made targeting the group’s financial resources and cutting off its recruitment of foreign fighters, with both described as “under severe strain.”
The flow of foreign fighters into Syria and Iraq has been sharply reduced and, as ISIS racks up military defeats, many fighters are defecting and fleeing its territory.
“Financially, ISIL is under stress as it has been forced to cut its fighter salaries in half, and levy higher extortionist taxes on the populations under its control to alleviate economic shortfalls.”
Oil production, once a key revenue source for ISIS, has been “cut by approximately one-third since late 2015 and many of its cash storage sites have been destroyed, denying is access to hundreds of millions dollars.”
In addition to defeating and degrading the Islamic State, coalition partners are also committed to stabilizing liberated areas and providing humanitarian aid to the populations wanting to return home.
To support the displaced populations, including the estimated 700,000 Iraqis who have returned to their homes over the last year, coalition partners have committed more than $100 million to a UN fund for Immediate Stabilization.
