While stating that ISIS has been decimated, United States President Donald Trump has said that sometime probably next week, he will formally announce to have 100 percent of the caliphate.
He said that the US military, its Coalition partners and the Syrian Democratic Forces have liberated virtually all of the territory previously held by ISIS in Syria and Iraq. In his address to the Ministers of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, Trump said, "It should be formally announced sometime probably next week that we will have 100 percent of the caliphate. But I want to wait for the official word. I don't want to say it too early."
Stating that the new approach developed by his administration, empowered US commanders in the field, enabled partners on the ground, and directly confronted ISIS's wicked ideology, he added: "Over the past two years, US and its partners have retaken more than 20,000 square miles of land." "We have secured one battlefield. And we've had victory after victory after victory, and retaken both Mosul and Raqqa. We have eliminated more than 60 mile high-value ISIS leaders," he added.
"Now, they re-form; we know that. But they're having a hard time re-forming, and I wouldn't say it's a great job to have because of us. It's not exactly - hopefully will not be a sought-after occupation," he said. "More than a hundred other top ISIS officials have been eliminated, and tens of thousands of ISIS fighters are gone. They're gone," he stated.
