Saying that “the enemy is in retreat on all fronts”, MacFarland said US-backed local forces in both Iraq and Syria have been gaining ground.
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In Syria, commanders have cited progress that USA -backed fighters have made in pushing militants from Manbij, a key Islamic State stronghold, though those forces are still 70 miles from Raqqa.
The Red Cross (ICRC) has warned up to a million Iraqis face homelessness as fighting in Mosul escalates ahead of the operation to recapture the city.
The general also downplayed the role of USA military forces, declaring they were only playing an “advise and assist” role at a distance and in specific locations.
MacFarland, who has headed the US-led coalition for nearly a year, said he had seen major progress. The Islamic State, which once controlled large parts of Iraq and Syria, generates revenue by selling oil on the black market at a deep discount.
“He and an aide were killed in the operation”, the KRSC said. “I am pleased with the progress that we’ve made on the ground in Iraq and Syria”.
The long-drawn-out conflicts – and tangle web of political, social and sectarian consequences – experienced by the US and its allies in Iraq and Afghanistan a decade ago have acted as a cautionary tale for the current global coalition against ISIS, making it far more wary of appearing to be a foreign, occupying power in charge of combatting the group. That’s almost half of what the enemy once controlled in Iraq and 20 percent of what they once controlled in Syria.
Lt Gen MacFarland said: “There’s no question that our strikes have enabled the liberation of more than 25,000 total square kilometres from Daesh”.
In a separate report, The International Business Times note that more than 33,000 people have died at the hands of the Islamic State group and other organisations loyal to it between 2002 and 2015. But he added that the United States still has quite a bit of work to do at the Qayyarah Air Base in northern Iraq before it can be used as a hub for the battle to retake Mosul.
USA Today reported US troops are already operating extensively inside Syria, stating: “US Special Operations Forces are helping to identify and organise Syrian rebel groups into a force that can take on the Islamic State [ISIS]”.
The coalition is now training Iraqi military and police forces to retake Mosul, and hold it afterwards.
After retaking Mosul, there would be only “scattered pockets” of resistance in Iraq.
Mr MacFarland said Iraqi forces were prepared to take the northern city of Mosul from Isis, a stronghold of the group since 2014, but added the U.S. still had work to do on the Qayyarah air base in the north of the country before the offensive could take place.
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Even as tensions are rising with Russian Federation in Eastern Europe and China in Asia, the United States has launched a new war in Libya and is preparing a major military escalation in the Middle East, nominally directed against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
