How Many Fighters Does The islamic State Have?

Reuters

ISIS Has 9,000 ‘Core Fighters.’ Or Maybe 17,000. Or Possibly 30,000. -- Tim Mak, Daily Beast

Another day, another American estimate of ISIS’s strength that’s vastly different from the last guess.

How many fighters are the U.S. and its allies combatting in its new war against ISIS? American military and intelligence leaders have only the vaguest of notions. Estimates of ISIS’s strength from these leaders have varied wildly, and now the military commander in charge of degrading and destroying the extremist group says it could be as low as just 9,000 “core fighters.”

Gen. Lloyd Austin’s estimates of ISIL’s numbers ranged from a low of 9,000 to a high of nearly double that figure—17,000. The CIA had previously estimated up to 30,000 fighters in ISIS’s ranks.

The truth is that the United States lacks the intelligence to form a trustworthy estimate of the group’s strength. Austin’s low estimate is just a third of what the CIA suggested their numbers could be, just a few short months ago.

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My Comment: Unfortunately .... what they have has been enough to decimate other Syrian rebel groups, to over-run major Syrian military bases, and to crush entire Iraqi divisions .... all at the same time.