Having successfully taken the Syrian city of Palmyria and the much larger Iraqi city of Ramadi, ISIS does not seem to be slowing down much while consolidating its gains, and is continuing to press their advantage on both fronts.
Iraqi Shi’ite spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani is pushing the government ever harder for a plan to actually defeat the Sunni ISIS, which has seized materially all of the Anbar Province and is once again nearing Baghdad.
So far, Iraqi and US government officials alike are simply shrugging off the comments by downplaying the losses, and promising quick recoveries, at the same time as ISIS continues to take more territory.
Likely reflecting ISIS’ confidence in the matter, the caliphate has also seized the entire Syria-Iraq border now, meaning those two nations no longer have a common border with one another, and that the former border is de facto part of ISIS territory.