AP, Kuwait City :
Islamic State fighters have lost the initiative in Iraq and are now “on defense” with far less ability to generate the kind of ground maneuvers that enabled the extremists to capture large chunks of Iraq earlier this year, a senior U.S. general said Monday.
Army Lt. Gen. James Terry, the top commander of Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S. campaign to defeat IS, also said the nascent effort to rebuild Iraq’s army will soon get a boost from coalition countries that plan to commit roughly 1,500 military trainers. Much of the Iraq army collapsed or proved ineffective in the face of IS’s onslaught last summer.
In his first extensive interview since taking command of the counter-Islamic State campaign in October, Terry told a small group of reporters that IS is “on defense, trying to hold what they have gained.” He added that the group, which is armed with tanks and other U.S.-made war equipment captured from the Iraqi army, is “still able to conduct some limited attacks.”
Terry said his first priority is to develop more fully an international military coalition against IS.
Islamic State fighters have lost the initiative in Iraq and are now “on defense” with far less ability to generate the kind of ground maneuvers that enabled the extremists to capture large chunks of Iraq earlier this year, a senior U.S. general said Monday.
Army Lt. Gen. James Terry, the top commander of Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S. campaign to defeat IS, also said the nascent effort to rebuild Iraq’s army will soon get a boost from coalition countries that plan to commit roughly 1,500 military trainers. Much of the Iraq army collapsed or proved ineffective in the face of IS’s onslaught last summer.
In his first extensive interview since taking command of the counter-Islamic State campaign in October, Terry told a small group of reporters that IS is “on defense, trying to hold what they have gained.” He added that the group, which is armed with tanks and other U.S.-made war equipment captured from the Iraqi army, is “still able to conduct some limited attacks.”
Terry said his first priority is to develop more fully an international military coalition against IS.
