Isis’s army is at its lowest level for two years and the group’s fighters “realise their cause is lost”, Barack Obama has said, after Pentagon officials claimed US air strikes had killed 25,000 militants.
The US President said the jihadist group had lost 40 per cent of its territories in Iraq and 10 per cent of those in Syria, as coalition-backed local forces have pushed forward to just outside Isis’s Iraqi stronghold of Mosul.
Mr Obama sounded a positive note as he spoke in a meeting at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, adding the group has suffered financial as well as military setbacks and reporting some successes in cyber operations to disrupt Isis communications.
“In other words, the [Isis] core in Syria and Iraq continues to shrink,” he said. “Their ranks of fighters are estimated to be at the lowest levels in about two years, and more and more of them are realizing that their cause is lost.”
But the President also sounded a note of caution, warning Isis has actually gained ground and numbers in Libya as it has been squeezed in Syria and Iraq.
In a Fox News interview aired on Sunday, Mr Obama revealed he believes his “worst mistake” in office was the failure to plan for the aftermath of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s downfall.
Previously, US officials have pointed to intelligence suggesting Isis numbers in Libya have doubled in the past year up to around 5,000 fighters.
“As we, our allies and partners have made it harder for foreign terrorists to reach Syria and Iraq, we’ve seen an uptick in the number of Isis fighters heading to Libya,” Mr Obama said.
More or less as the President was speaking, the US State Department released its annual report into the state of human rights around the world – naming Syria as the worst country in the regard.
And even as he praised recent military successes against Isis in its territories, the Mr Obama sounded a sobering note.
“As I’ve said repeatedly, the only way to truly destroy Isis is to end the Syrian civil war that Isis has exploited,” he said.
