The Islamic State still controls a territory as large as Belgium, but it is rapidly declining. The Islamic State caliphate was declared on June 29, 2014, and lasted exactly three years, to June 29, 2017. Islamic State jihadis, however, have been dispersed throughout the world (and have been welcomed back by foolish Western governments), and will be wreaking havoc for years to come.
“Iraq declares end of caliphate after capture of Mosul mosque,” by Khaled al-Ramahi and Maher Chmaytelli, Reuters, June 29, 2017:
After eight months of grinding urban warfare, Iraqi government troops on Thursday captured the ruined mosque at the heart of Islamic State’s de facto capital Mosul, and the prime minister declared the group’s self-styled caliphate at an end.
Iraqi authorities expect the long battle for Mosul to end in coming days as remaining Islamic State fighters are bottled up in just a handful of neighborhoods of the Old City.
The seizure of the nearly 850-year-old Grand al-Nuri Mosque — from where Islamic State proclaimed the caliphate nearly three years ago to the day — is a huge symbolic victory.
“The return of al-Nuri Mosque and al-Hadba minaret to the fold of the nation marks the end of the Daesh state of falsehood,” Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a statement, referring to the hardline Sunni Mulsim [sic] group by an Arabic acronym.
The fall of Mosul would in effect mark the end of the Iraqi half of the IS caliphate, although the group still controls territory west and south of the city, ruling over hundreds of thousands of people.
Its stronghold in Syria, Raqqa, is also close to falling.
A U.S.-backed Kurdish-led coalition besieging Raqqa on Thursday fully encircled it after closing the militants’ last way out from the south, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.
These setbacks have reduced Islamic State’s territory by 60 percent from its peak two years ago and its revenue by 80 percent, to just $16 million a month, said IHS Markit.
“Their fictitious state has fallen,” an Iraqi military spokesman, Brigadier General Yahya Rasool, told state TV.
However, it still occupies an area as big as Belgium, across Iraq and Syria, according to IHS Markit, an analytics firm….
IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed himself ruler of all Muslims from the Grand al-Nuri Mosque’s pulpit on July 4, 2014, after the insurgents overran swathes of Iraq and Syria….
Linde Barrera says
I will believe this news when I see a photo of fat-bellied Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in jail. After he is imprisoned, I will guess him to be wailing for mercy. I believe this guy was and still is a sadistic bastard, and I know it is very un-Christian of me to wish him any pain, but if he received only half the pain that he ordered his devoted Muslime followers to inflict on thousands upon thousands upon thousands of others, I will say “justice has been served.”
Anti-jihad says
I thought al Baghdadi was supposed to be dead already.
vlparker says
Three times, or something like that.
Dave says
Don’t worry there are lots of Left/liberal Loons who will welcome them !
marina says
So what? The returning jihadis are welcomed lovingly into the West to wreak havoc.
Skeptic Sam says
The jihadis wiil be welcome in Canadastan.
Georg says
This with news their slime in chief is rotting in hell… could be worse.
Don McKellar says
Al queda was defeated. The Taliban was defeated. A dozen other Islamic terror groups… And now the Islamic State’s caliphate has been “ended”. Rrrrrrright….
Westman says
Bu, bu, but how else will peace ever “come back” to the “religion of peace”?
gravenimage says
True, Don. The Islamic State–as hideous as it is–is just one aspect of the Islamic hydra.
And while I welcome this news, I would not assume this is the end of ISIS, either. The Taliban has been counted out several times and is now strong.
Jan Sobieski says
Caliphates will come and go, but the really big caliphate 40 years from now will be Germany, and that will be a caliphate to reckon with. Could make a great novel. The great caliphate wars of the 21st century, the German axis, but who will fight them?
Westman says
This must mean that the Iraqi refugees, who fled to Europe, will soon be flooding back to their beloved homeland? That is what real refugees do, isn’t it?
Europe must be so relieved; anticipating that all of their refugees will be heading home just as soon as the Syrian conflict is over…
gravenimage says
Ha ha
somehistory says
The question is, Will they just morph into another, or are we seeing the true *end* of the reign of the wild beast out of the sea? (Revelation 13)
Daniel Triplett says
And tomorrow, a different Muslim group under a different name will form, declaring themselves to be the chosen ones.
This will never end until we extinguish our true enemy: ISIS isn’t the problem — Islam is.
Meanwhile, while the World has been dicking around with ISIS, Iran is putting the finishing touches on their ICBM nuke arsenal with which they promise to exterminate us.
Of course, Iran doesn’t even need the ICBMs, with “Islamic Republic of Iran” painted on the side. All they need is the nuke device, then give it to one of their goon squads to truck into Tel Aviv. Or put it on a container ship bound for a US port.
We need to nuke Iran’s war making capacity today. History will judge us as the most self-destructive, ignorant, foolish idiots who ever lived if we allow Iran to nuke Kaffirs with a first strike.
Iran (and N Korea) are pointing a loaded gun at us. We’re not required to wait for them to pull the trigger before killing them first.
TheOldOligarch says
When they do finally lose the last of their territory, they will likely fade into the background, becoming another shadowy Muslim terror group. They may even merge back into Al-Qaeda, who I suppose will have been proven right that the time was not yet ripe to declare the Caliphate openly.
RationalVoice says
We are seriously deluding ourselves if we think that if and when Daesch are finally defeated the problem of Islamic terrorism is over in Europe or anywhere else in the World.The problem is not Daesch it is people who follow the religion called Islam and the exhortation to evil from the Qur’an Hadiths and other Islamic writings.As long as people in the World,some of whom have had the benefit of western education, suspend their critical faculties to obey these barbarous instructions,incredibly in 2017,then peace there will be not.What makes it worse is that this evil,irrational belief system is enforced by many governments across the world in the form of Islamic governments and worse still by western governments,religious leaders and their present and former ignorant spokespersons like Angela Merkel.GW Bush,David Cameron,Pope Francis,the Archbishop of Canterbury,President Obama etc etc who wont take the time to read these Islamic texts to see the real nature of this creed but who prefer to live in a world of cognissive denial of the obvious.
If the actions of Daesch hasn’t woken them up to reality I don’t know what will!!
The only hope is that populations of countries like Hungary and Poland will give the lead to the other
peoples of Europe and indeed the world to rid themselves of their cowardly governments and give decent and rational leadership in this time of great danger to our liberties and cultures.
Sarah says
“Their fictitious state has fallen,” an Iraqi military spokesman, Brigadier General Yahya Rasool, told state TV.”
Uh, slow your roll there, big guy. They still control a sizable area that despite the best efforts of the Iraqis, they’re happily clinging to.
Let’s be real for a second – the Iraqi’s panicked, lost their head’s and ran away, LEAVING their weapons for Pete’s sake; when first faced with ISIS. Thankfully you’ve got a bunch of Western troops over there, risking their lives to train you lot up into a semblance of an army – and keep you focused on the goal – probably to shame you lot from running away again.
When the last ISIS fighter is either dead or captured and every single square centimetre of occupied land is recovered – THAT is when you can say ‘Hey! We got them! They’re defeated!’
You’re counting your chickens absurdly early on. This is a fight that will go on for many more years yet, thanks to your beloved Islam. Keep up the good work and all – but the job isn’t done, don’t be half-baked about it now.
Our troops should be getting pulled out now, yet we all know that if they were pulled out, you and your army would probably turn tail again AND lose all the ground you’ve gained. So come on, dig down, work hard, keep going and finish it properly, rather than making boastful statements that are utterly untrue.
TheBuffster says
That’s what I was thinking, Sarah. Well said.
Shmooviyet says
Excellent post.
So many forget that initial reaction/retreat at the coming of ISIS; Reuters and the like tend to leave out those little details in their rush to proclaim Iraqi victory.
Surprised readers were not again reminded that ISIS has NTDWI.
St. Manuel II Palaiologos says
Islam still exists, Islamic State or not.