ISIS has lost most of its land since President Trump took office

U.S. military officials announced this week that ISIS has lost 98 percent of it’s land they once held. Half of the land has been captured under President Trump’s term in the past 11 months. British Prime Minister Theresa May declared ISIS had been “crushed” last week.

The American intelligence assessment stated that two years ago, there were 45,000 ISIS fighters in Syria and Iraq. However now, fewer than 1,000 remain. A contributing factor was the 30,000 U.S. led airstrikes plus regional partners on the ground who killed thousands of jihadists. ISIS used to control an area the size of Ohio, but now only have a small area along the border of Syria and Iraq. Although ISIS is now closer to being defeated, they are still calling followers around the world.

Several critics stated that the Obama administration “micromanaged” the war year after year when an intensive air campaign could have ended the conflict sooner. Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula who was the former head of U.S. Air Force intelligence stated that, “the rules of engagement under the Obama administration were onerous. I mean what are we doing having individual target determination being conducted in the White House, which in some cases adds weeks and weeks. The limitations that were put on actually resulted in greater civilian casualties.”

However, the senior director of counterterrorism during Obama’s term defended the comments. Author Joshua Geltzer said, “”This was a top priority from the early days of ISIS gaining the type of territorial safe haven in particular, there was recognition that safe havens for terrorist groups can mean terrorist plots that extend — not just into the region — but to Europe and conceivably into the United States.”

Article written with information from sister stations WFLD and KTRK.