Recent months has seen the issue of ISIS placed on the back burner. With Republicans focused on their failed effort to repeal Obamacare and upcoming tax reform campaign, the Islamic radicals terrorizing Syria and Iraq have gotten little attention.
While Islamic terrorism is always an important issue, there may be a reason for the Trump administration’s relative silence on it. That’s because, according to our top military commanders, the once powerful terror group is starting to crumble.
As reported at the Daily Mail, US-backed Iraqi forces announced Thursday they have retaken one of Islamic State’s last remaining strongholds, after hundreds of terrorists surrendered. This latest victory is yet another sign that ISIS is on its heels and starting to collapse, as the group’s once expansive territory is being stripped away bit by bit.
“They’re giving up,” said Lieutenant General Paul Funk, who commands the coalition task force fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. “Their leaders are abandoning them.” It seems that their leaders aren’t as intent on meeting the harem of virgins supposedly awaiting them on the other side as they’ve let on.
In what was a strange and usual sight, large numbers of ISIS terrorists chose surrender over martyrdom, as they laid down their arms and turn themselves over to Kurdish Peshmerga forces, in the city southwest of Kirkuk.
The city, Hawija in northern Iraq, finally fell after two weeks of fighting, and is the latest base of operations taken from ISIS. The group has suffered continued defeats as of late, which suggests an unprecedented level of demoralization has taken hold. This is good new for folks in the region, who have endured unbelievable bloodshed and terror at their hands.
“The speed at which the enemy gave up surprised me,” Funk said in a phone interview from Baghdad, after Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the liberation of Hawija.
Funk said about 1,000 militants surrendered in the past three or four days of fighting in Hawija. The coalition had estimated up to 1,500 militants were defending the city when the offensive began.
US-backed forces in Syria are also busy reclaiming territory. As of right now, they’ve recaptured about three-quarters of Raqqa, which is ISIS’ primary headquarters. Liberating the city could finally spell the end of the group.
“They’re coming out with their hands up, putting their weapons down – full scale surrender,” Funk said. “It’s a growing trend.”
“What we are hearing (from those who surrendered) is, ‘Our leaders have abandoned us, we haven’t been fed, we haven’t been paid,” Funk said.
Last week ISIS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi released an audio exhorting his fighters to continue the battle. “I don’t think he’s having much of an effect,’ Funk said. The day after the audio was released, several hundred fighters surrendered.
The fight against ISIS has been long and grueling. Their previous unwillingness to surrender, fighting down to the last man, was what made them so formidable. But now that that resolve is crumbling, the opportunity has arisen to strike a deadly blow on the organization. Hopefully, US-backed forces continue their string of victories and completely wipe these murderers off the face of the planet.
Source: Daily Mail