Early this month, the US-led coalition had estimated that 3,000 ISIS fighters were left in Iraq and Syria, the smallest number in years. On Wednesday, officials revised that estimate downward to less than 1,000.
The new statement credited the reduction to the “commitment” of the coalition in fighting ISIS, though there is no indication of any conflicts they’ve been in lately that would remove 2,000 ISIS from the battlefield.
This may reflect more ISIS fighters leaving the region with the loss of effectively all of their territory, heading to other areas of interest for the faction, or returning home to their countries of origin.
If it’s the later, that could be a serious concern, as ISIS recruited heavily from Western Europe and elsewhere around the world, which means their return will put a lot of people with contacts to international terror in places they traditionally have struggled to infiltrate.
The number might be accurate as the USA is allied with AL-Qaeda terrorists.
1000 ISIS head choppers is a lot when you take into consideration only 700 ISIS troops with Toyota pickup defeated the entire Iraqi army { trained by the USA } equipped with tanks . They could not be stopped for several years not until both Russia and United States got into the war against them .
“the US-led coalition”, like the coalition of the killing of GWBush’s time.
Who are they leading, and where?
I doubt they have a clue how many ISIS are still around. However, the current change in numbers is likely a result of changing alliances more than anything else. The majority of these fighters were not much more than paid mercenaries. Furthermore, many ISIS fighters were once “moderate rebels” and no doubt are now once again “moderate rebels”.
They likely know exactly how many there are as they are all on the US/CIA payroll.