ISIS still poses a significant threat to Iraq and Syria and to the wider world, the deputy commander for stability for Combined Joint Forces Land Component Command Operation Inherent Resolve said today.
Providing a coalition operations update from Baghdad to reporters at the Pentagon via teleconference, British Army Maj. Gen. Chris Ghika said ISIS has “morphed into an underground network that we must root out and destroy.”
The enduring defeat of ISIS is OIR's objective, the general said. Strong governance and effective stabilization are the long-term keys to security and prosperity, and the international community must do all it can to help, he added.
March 23 was the most recent significant ISIS defeat when the terrorists lost control of any physical territory in Baghuz, Syria, he noted.
“We must reflect on this great achievement by our partner forces and the coalition,” Ghika emphasized. “For five years, [ISIS'] reign of terror instilled unbounded fear into innocent Iraqis and Syrians. Today, it has been reduced to an underground organization, forced out of population centers and into hiding in caves and the mountains. Its aspirations for a global caliphate have been destroyed.”
No Time for Complacency
Yet, the general warned against complacency, stating that this is not the end of ISIS or operations against…
