Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Is The Islamic State Invincible?

Militant Islamist fighters in military vehicles parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa province June 30, 2014. (Reuters)

Hassan Hassan & Michael Weiss, BBC: Islamic State: An invincible force?

In June 2014, so-called Islamic State (IS) took over the Iraqi city of Mosul. Within weeks, the organisation had swept through large swathes in Iraq and Syria, seizing a territory the size of the United Kingdom.

The territory IS controls has shrunk in the two years since a US-led multinational coalition launched an air campaign on its positions, first in Iraq and then Syria.

The coalition has managed to push IS out of the Iraqi cities of Tikrit and Ramadi, as well as an ever-increasing stretch of Syrian-Turkish borderland.

Enemies of the "caliphate", backed by (mostly) US fighter jets, are now bivouacked 50km (30 miles) from the IS "capital" of Raqqa, in northern Syria.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: They have proven themselves to be resilient .... but they are losing ground.

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