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Foreign ISIS Fighters Increasingly Isolated in Mosul Battle as Local Militants Flee
(Wall Street Journal) Tamer El-Ghobashy and Ali A. Nabhan - Islamic State fighters from outside Iraq are increasingly being abandoned by local militants as the group loses ground in Mosul. Many foreign fighters and Iraqis from other parts of the country are unable to quit and blend in with civilians who are fleeing the city by the thousands. Between 1,500 and 2,000 Islamic State fighters remain in western Mosul, with 70-90% of them hailing from Saudi Arabia, Yemen, China, Tajikistan and Russia, including Chechnya, top counterterrorism officers estimate. "The foreign fighters stayed because they have no other place to go," said a senior Iraqi field officer.