The operations against the organization of the "Islamic State" enter its fourth year and the Pentag

The operations against the organization of the "Islamic State" enter its fourth year and the Pentagon is convinced of the inevitability of a daunting defeat



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Posted on Tuesday, 08 August 2017 08:35
France 24 / AFP
The US-led campaign to stamp out the "Islamic State" in Iraq and Syria this week is entering its fourth year, and the Pentagon is convinced of the inevitability of the jihadists' defeat.
On August 8, 2014, two F-18 aircraft from the aircraft carrier George W. Bush flew in the Gulf to receive 500 pounds of laser-guided bombs on Islamic State fighters near Erbil in northern Iraq.
This military action was the beginning of intensified air campaigns, which were subsequently reinforced by training and equipping local forces to fight jihadists, first in Iraq and later in Syria.
The "Islamic state" came to light in early 2014, when elements swept through areas in northern Iraq and Syria, before taking control of major cities including Mosul and Raqqa, leaving atrocities and barbarism.
At the height of its advance, the "Islamic State" controlled an area of ​​40,000 square miles (104,000 square kilometers) and even threatened Baghdad with the collapse of the Iraqi army units and its entry into chaos as the jihadists approached.
"They had 8 million prisoners of their barbaric rule and they lived in misery," Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis said. "Many have been forced to become refugees and live in deprivation."
Three years after the start of the coalition campaign, 70 percent of the areas under the control of the "Islamic State" in Iraq and 50 percent of the areas in Syria were restored.
"The Islamic state has not been able to take even one inch from the areas we liberated," Davis said. "The organization of the 'Islamic state' is facing its inevitable defeat, we will win and they will be defeated."
The coalition consists of 69 countries, although few of these partners contribute to the air campaign or training missions.
Although the experts finally expect the collapse of the "caliphate" declared by the "Islamic state" of itself, jihadists are fighting by inviting their followers to launch terrorist attacks around the world.
As of 26 July 2017, the coalition carried out 13,221 raids in Iraq and 10,701 in Syria, a total of 23,922 raids at a cost of $ 13.6 million per day.
Fighting against jihadists has seen continuous combat flights, mostly in populated areas. The coalition has acknowledged the deaths of 624 civilians to date, although experts say the real number is much higher.
"While this campaign is the most accurate in the history of war, civilians are dying in war, and this is the sad truth," Davis said.

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