Pentagon: Coalition forces 'degrading' ISIL's grip on Mideast territory

Navy Rear Adm. Andrew Lewis, vice director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently told Pentagon reporters that U.S.-led coalition forces are making significant progress in Operation Inherent Resolve, part of the campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

“(The coalition also) continues to target senior ISIL leadership, and our successes are degrading their ability to govern and control their forces and territory,” Lewis said.

The coalition, which includes more than 60 nations, has made progress in helping Iraqi and other regional forces regain territory held by ISIL, including Shaddadi and approximately 3,800 square miles in Syria, and Hit and Mahkmour in Iraq, with Mosul next on the list.. It also has made it much more difficult for ISIL forces to move freely on the battlefield. Lewis emphasized the importance of intelligence, which is allowing the coalition to target ISIL leaders, weaponry and infrastructure with airstrikes.

“We assess the attacks in Paris and Brussels are not signs of ISIL’s strength, but rather, a reflection of their distorted attempts to maintain the ability to recruit in the face of their failures on the battlefield,” Lewis said. “We do not assess there was a direct correlation, but they demonstrate (the) twisted lengths to which ISIL will go as it attempts to survive as an organization.”