ISIL has lost a fifth of its territory
The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant has lost about 22 percent of its territory in Iraq and Syria in the past 15 months. In 2014, the extremist group exploited power vacuums and surged into cities on both sides of the border. Since then, its acts of destruction have sparked global outrage and prompted more than a year of airstrikes by a U.S.-led coalition.
A report from IHS Jane's 360, an intelligence analyst, found the tide is decisively turning. Despite advances last summer in Iraq and Syria, ISIL has suffered significant setbacks. IHS estimated that it lost about 14 percent of its territory in 2015 and a further 8 percent in the first three months of this year.
Airstrikes by the U.S.-led campaign and an ongoing Russian mission in Syria have pinned ISIL back. With that support, Syrian Kurdish factions allied with a number of Arab outfits have pushed against the militants in Syria's northeast; and the Iraqi military has reclaimed key cities in the heart of Iraq.
Washington Post
