Within Iraq, the military task force killed 35 and destroyed one weapons cache during the month’s 22 reported engagements with ISIS militants. In Syria, the Coalition logged 12 encounters.
The Coalition was formally established in September 2014 after ISIS took control of large swathes of territories in Iraq and Syria. Since the group’s territorial defeat, the forces have shrunk their presence and handed over a number of military bases to the control of Iraqi security forces.
The international Coalition [US, UK, France and Belgium remaining] has declared 14 new strikes against ISIS during November 2020 - taking the overall tally since 2014 to 34,715 air and artillery strikes against so-called Islamic State. pic.twitter.com/vvyIhHSVqH
— Airwars (@airwars) January 6, 2021
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi confirmed on Tuesday that “more than half” of American forces in Iraq will have withdrawn within the “coming days”, during a televised speech for the occasion of the Iraqi Army’s 100th anniversary. He noted that only “hundreds” will remain for training, technical support and armament.
Coalition officials confirm that ISIS group no longer has the ability to sustain and occupy any territory in Iraq and Syria, however, the danger of armed groups is still imminent.
"Five years ago when I was here as a coalition spokesman, 40 thousand Daesh [ISIS] fighters controlled an area of approximately 110 thousand square kilometers. They had victories in Raqqa, Mosul, Fallujah and Ramadi," Spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) Wayne Marotto told Rudaw's Rozhan Abubakir in November, using the militant group's Arabic acronym. "By 2019 their territorial ambitions were crushed.”
With reporting by Sura Ali
