The latest figures from the US-led coalition to destroy the Islamic State terrorist group seem at first glance to be overwhelming.
A self-proclaimed caliphate that once ruled over vast expanses of Iraq and Syria was reduced to about 300 square kilometers in eastern Syria, military officials say.
"They are really in the mess, they are really disorganized," Brig. General Frédéric Parisot, director of the coalition's civil-military operations, told reporters on Tuesday of the Pentagon, saying that "a few hundred" IS fighters would likely remain.
But as has been the case with long-standing concerns that estimates are nil and that even a reduced ISIL combat force is larger and more capable than the rest of the intelligence services. hints
"An ISIL fighter is one too many". "We are still engaged in major combat operations," he said. "I will not speculate on when that will end."
Other US military officials questioned about the size of the threat of ISIS in Syria also hesitated to discuss details.
attacks, "said a senior US military official at VOA about the IS forces. DOSSIER – Bombs inside a vehicle used by Islamic State militants in car bomb attacks are photographed after a team of deminers defused them in Raqqa , Syria, October 18, 2017. "src =" https://gdb.voanews.com/F3A203AA-97E3-45AD-BC30-1DA64F9EA352_w250_r0_s.jpg "/>
DOSSIER – Bombs inside a vehicle used by Islamic State militants in car bomb attacks are photographed after a team of deminers has them. defused in Raqqa, Syria, October 18, 2017.
At the terrorist group's summit in 2015, US military and intelligence officials said that the IS had probably about 33,000 combatants at its disposal – a conservative estimate that has remained constant for months. Other US officials have argued that at least 50,000 IS fighters had been killed in coalition air strikes.
The military and intelligence services emphasized the ability of the terrorist group to recruit up to 2,000 foreign fighters per month. The reason why IS was able to maintain constant numbers.
Despite this, independent badysts often doubted official estimates, criticizing them for being too low.
"I do not think anyone knows for sure, but hundreds are probably too small," said Thomas Joscelyn, a former member of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
. No matter where near the zenith of his power, but it's not an anthill either, "he said. "They knew that the US-led forces would expel them from their territory, and they did not plan to lose all their fighters."
At the top of the scale, independent estimates say that hundreds of IS militants fight against US-backed forces in areas along the Syrian-Iraqi border there could be between 7,000 and 9,000 fighters in Syria alone.
Government-controlled Syrian central military media show shooting at militant positions on the Iraqi-Syrian border, November 8, 2017. The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights based in Great Britain Britain said that Islamic State militants withdrew last fortress as a result of a government offensive.
U.S. They say that even getting an idea of the number of IS fighters has been complicated while many have gone to the background, some waiting their turn as members of small dormant cells, waiting for the good time.
"Even on the Iraqi side of the border – because I think it also applies in areas that have been cleaned up, it's something that will continue to be a challenge for us and the Iraqis. , is really "Christopher Maier, the director of the central working group" Defeat "of the Pentagon, told VOA
IS resurgence?
Iraqi officials warned of a threat imminent dormant cells for more than a year, expressing particular concerns about adolescent cells young enough that they can not be affected by counter-terrorism forces, but sufficiently elderly and sufficiently indoctrinated to In Iraq, there are fears that such fears may come to fruition, with some reporting this week 's attack by three suspected gunmen in the country. EI on a Gouve building Event in Erbil
Kurdish officials in Erbil have identified two of the armed men The pace of ISIL-claimed attacks in Iraq has also steadily increased and even US officials have expressed concern, noting that the threat of terrorist group extends to Baghdad.
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Syrian forces of President Bashar Al Assad Haara Hill in the Quneitra area, rebels and IS militants, 17 July 2018.
There is also concern that fighters and militants EI – hundreds at the very least – find a safe haven in parts of Syria. It is led by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and supported by Russia.
"We will continue to be challenged by this fundamental question, which is that you do not know that there is a presence of the state" The regime and its supporters have not shown capable or, in some cases, willing to badume the threat of the Islamic State, "he added
sought to flex his muscles in these areas.According to the Syrian Observatory of the Rights of the Man, Daesh suicide bombings killed more than 200 people in a series of suicide bombings Wednesday in Sweida province in Syria
The Syrian official SANA news agency shows mourners at mbad funerals of people killed a day earlier by a series of suicide bombings launched by Islamic State fighters in the Al-Sweida province Syria, July 26, 2018.
The attacks, said the group, appeared to be an answer to a Syrian regime, the Russian-backed effort to clean the militants of the country. 39 Islamic state of a neighboring region.
Before the latest attacks, a US official said he expected the terrorist group to carry out more attacks of this type, calling Daesh's strategy "illegal rebellion".
They fear that the IS will find a way to continue it will become, and less traditional military tactics may be useful.
"ISIS is more than a physical group.It is an idea," said a senior US official. "That's what we fought against."
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