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In Syria and Iraq, the Islamic State Is In Retreat on Multiple Fronts
(Washington Post) Liz Sly - In the latest setbacks for Islamic State militants on Thursday, Syrian government troops entered the outskirts of Palmyra after a weeks-old offensive aided by Russian airstrikes, and U.S. airstrikes helped Iraqi forces overrun a string of Islamic State villages in northern Iraq. The militants have not embarked on a successful offensive in nine months. Their leaders are dying in U.S. strikes at the rate of one every three days, according to U.S. military officials. Front-line commanders speak of Islamic State defenses that crumble within days and fighters who flee at the first sign they are under attack. "They don't fight. They just send car bombs and then run away. And when we surround them they either surrender or infiltrate themselves among the civilians," said Lt. Gen. Abdul-Ghani al-Assadi, commander of Iraq's counterterrorism forces. "Their morale is shaken. We listen to them on their communications devices. Their leaders are begging them to fight, but they answer that it is a lost cause. They refuse to obey orders and run away." "As time goes on, as our systems mature, we're becoming more effective," said Col. Steve Warren, the U.S. military's spokesman in Baghdad. "We've become much better at spotting them. Anytime they try to move, we're able to find and finish them." In eastern Syria last month, the Kurdish YPG - aided by U.S. Special Forces - seized the town of Shadadi. "Shadadi was going to be a major six-week operation," a senior U.S. official said. "The ISIS guys had dug trenches and everything. Instead, they completely collapsed. They're collapsing town by town." Plans for an operation to capture Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State's caliphate in Syria, are on hold because of tensions between Kurds and Arabs over who would participate and how to govern the city after it has been taken. Likewise, preparations for an offensive for Mosul, the biggest Iraqi city under Islamic State control, are being held up by disputes over who should take part and how to govern the city. "We could probably liberate Mosul tomorrow, but...a lot of work needs to be done to ensure an orderly transition of power," said Michael Knights of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.