ISIL Loses 40 Percent of Its Territory in Iraq
By the end of 2015, territories in Iraq controlled by the so-called Islamic State (known as ISIL or simply IS) had been reduced by 40%, as reported by Reuters. In Syria, ISIL lost 20% of its territory. This was reported by Colonel Steve Warren, a spokesman for the U.S.-led,anti-terrorist coalition.
In 2014 the extremist group, then known as ISIS, captured one third of Iraq, including the town of Mosul and launched an attack on Baghdad. The blitzkrieg was stopped only because Iran’s Armed Forces sent members of its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to help Iraq’s army.
Since that time, a coalition of 60 countries led by the USA has joined the struggle against ISIL. At the end of September of last year, the Russian Air Force joined them as well. As a result of a joint effort in Iraq, they managed to dislodge ISIL militants from many localities including Tikrit and Ramadi. In Syria, the forces loyal to President Bashar-al-Assad also won back territory from the Islamic extermists.