{"id":36389,"date":"2017-08-22T15:32:17","date_gmt":"2017-08-22T15:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2017\/08\/22\/mattis-in-baghdad-says-militants-are-on-the-run\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T03:10:52","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T03:10:52","slug":"mattis-in-baghdad-says-militants-are-on-the-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/flashpoints\/2017\/08\/22\/mattis-in-baghdad-says-militants-are-on-the-run\/","title":{"rendered":"Mattis, in Baghdad, says militants are ‘on the run’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BAGHDAD \u2014 U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Tuesday he is confident that U.S.-backed Iraqi forces will finish off the Islamic State militants clinging to strongholds that are shrinking in size and number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cISIS is on the run,\u201d Mattis told reporters after meeting with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and other Iraqi government leaders. \u201cThey have been shown to be unable to stand up to our team in combat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mattis spoke alongside Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, who is due to finish his tour of duty here in early September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe fighting is tough,\u201d Townsend said, \u201cbut the momentum is with our partners.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier, Mattis described the extremists as being trapped in a military vise that will squeeze them on both sides of the Syria-Iraq border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mattis had arrived in the Iraqi capital hours after President Donald Trump outlined a fresh approach to the stalemated war in Afghanistan. Trump also has pledged to take a more aggressive, effective approach against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, but he has yet to announce a strategy for that conflict that differs greatly from his predecessor\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pentagon chief told reporters before he left neighboring Jordan that the Middle Euphrates River Valley \u2014 roughly from the western Iraqi city of al-Qaim to the eastern Syrian city of Der el-Zour \u2014 will be liberated in time, as IS takes hit from both ends of the valley that bisects Iraq and Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou see, ISIS is now caught in-between converging forces,\u201d he said, using an alternative acronym for the militant group that burst into western and northern Iraq in 2014 from Syria and held sway for more than two years. \u201cSo ISIS\u2019s days are certainly numbered, but it\u2019s not over yet and it\u2019s not going to be over any time soon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mattis referred to this area as \u201cISIS\u2019s last stand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike the war in Afghanistan, Iraq offers a more positive narrative for the White House, at least for now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having enabled Iraqi government forces to reclaim the Islamic State\u2019s prized possession of Mosul in July, the U.S. military effort is showing tangible progress and the Pentagon can credibly assert that momentum is on Iraq\u2019s side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ranking U.S. Air Force officer in Iraq, Brig. Gen. Andrew A. Croft, said that over the past few months, IS has lost much of its ability to command and control its forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s less coordinated than it was before,\u201d he said. \u201cIt appears more fractured \u2014 flimsy is the word I would use.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t