New intelligence reveals ISIS has lost almost a THIRD of the land jihadis seized since last year
Latest news comes just as US, British and Iraqi troops prepare to retake Iraqi city of Mosul
OVER the last 19 months, on the run ISIS has lost almost a third of the territory it seized in Iraq and Syria, experts claim.
Land controlled by the terror organisation has diminished - shrinking from 56,400 square miles in January last year to 40,700 sq miles as of October 3.
“The loss of direct road access to cross-border smuggling routes into Turkey severely restricts the group's ability to recruit new fighters from abroad, while the Iraqi government is poised to launch its offensive on Mosul.”
The news of the decrease comes ahead of a large-scale assault on Mosul, the last major ISIS stronghold in Iraq.
The operation to retake Mosul is expected to take place at some point in the next 10 days.
Britain is sending hundreds of troops to Iraq carrying gas masks and nuclear warfare clothing to protect themselves against in case of a chemical attack by ISIS jihadis.
The 250 soldiers from the Four Rifles Battalion are being deployed today in preparation for the ground and air assault on the city.
A dozen Iraqi Army brigades, each of which includes from 800 to 1,600 troops, have been gathering at Qaiyara Airfield West, south of Mosul, ahead of the attack.
But fears have been raised that the assault on the city, which has a population of around one million people, will spark a humanitarian disaster.
Bruno Geddo, from the United Nations refugee agency in Iraq, told the Sunday Times, the attack could trigger “one of the largest man-made disasters” in years.
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