10,000-plus ISIS fighters killed in 9-month campaign
June 04, 2015 21:09
The US-led coalition against ISIS has recorded more than 10,000 ISIS deaths since the campaign against the extremist group began nine months ago, US Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken told France Inter radio.
Blinken's remarks came in an interview given Tuesday after coalition members joined Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi for a conference in Paris that assessed progress in the campaign.
Asked whether Iraqi forces backed by the coalition were capable of standing up to ISIS, Blinken said they could.
"Indeed, when you act against a force like Daesh, which is a terrorist force with a totalitarian ideology, and that does not fear death, we recorded an enormous loss for Daesh. More than 10,000 since this campaign started. And this will eventually have an effect.''
(Daesh is another name for ISIS that is widely used by European and Arab allies and is despised by the terrorist group.)
Still, the CIA's estimate that there are between 20,000 and 32,000 total ISIS fighters holds, US intelligence officials say. That's because, according to the officials, ISIS is able to "adequately replace" slain fighters through a combination of conscription and recruitment both inside and outside of Syria and Iraq.
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