(New York Times) Helene Cooper - The territory held by Islamic State in Iraq continues to shrink, but American officials say the pace of the fight is not slowing. "They have resigned themselves that they're going to fight to the bitter end, and they are going to take as many of us with them as possible," said Capt. Mike Spencer, a U.S. Navy pilot on the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz in the Persian Gulf. While small numbers of ISIS fighters are surrendering, with some fleeing to Turkey, many more are dying. U.S. pilots say Islamic State fighters were behaving differently than the Qaeda or Taliban fighters, and are far slower to abandon entrenched fighting positions until they are, literally, blown out.
2017-09-05 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive