{"id":12478,"date":"2015-01-03T22:41:27","date_gmt":"2015-01-04T04:41:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tomseymour66.com\/?p=12478"},"modified":"2015-01-03T22:41:27","modified_gmt":"2015-01-04T04:41:27","slug":"after-making-waves-in-2014-isis-power-appears-to-ebb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tomseymour66.com\/after-making-waves-in-2014-isis-power-appears-to-ebb\/","title":{"rendered":"After Making Waves In 2014, ISIS’ Power Appears To Ebb"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Iraqi crowds cheer as the countdown and fireworks begin during a New Year’s Day celebration at Firdos Square in Baghdad on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
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itoggle caption<\/b><\/b> Hadi Mizban\/AP<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hadi Mizban\/AP<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n In the heat of summer in 2014, Baghdad was spooked. A third of Iraq was under the control of the self-proclaimed Islamic State, or ISIS. The extremist group thrived in the chaos of the Syrian civil war, then surged over the border into Iraq and took over the cities of Mosul and Tikrit. People worried the capital might be next.<\/p>\n Six months on, that’s changed. On New Year’s Eve, for instance, the usual midnight curfew was lifted and people partied in the streets and uploaded videos of themselves letting off fireworks.<\/p>\n Baghdadis say that change is because they feel the pushback against ISIS has begun in earnest.<\/p>\n “We’re always optimistic, looking for the best,” says Alia al-Taiee, at a Baghdad book market. What’s encouraged her is a mass mobilization of volunteers to fight the extremists.<\/p>\n ISIS is a Sunni Muslim group; most of those who volunteered to fight against them were Shiite. But Alia and her sister Khaha want people from every religion and ethnicity in Iraq to sign up: Sunnis, Christians and Yazidis.<\/p>\n And of course, the fight against ISIS hasn’t come just from Iraqis, or even just from their Iranian military allies. Over Iraq and Syria, since September, American warplanes have led a coalition’s efforts to cripple ISIS with bombings. Now, Americans are training Iraqi troops to fight ISIS<\/a> and say they’ll do the same with the rebels they back in Syria.<\/p>\n Analyst Hisham al-Hashemi reckons the airstrikes have already had an impact.<\/p>\n “The coalition targeted some of the leadership at the organizational level,” Hashemi says. “This has been the most painful attack on ISIS.”<\/p>\n Hashemi says the group has lost three senior leaders and mid-level commanders. It’s more difficult for them to move around freely, and oil fields \u2014 key sources of funding \u2014 have taken a pounding. Plus, his sources tell him the number of foreigners volunteering to join them has slumped.<\/p>\n “There are 80 percent fewer Arab and foreign recruits,” he says. “ISIS lost all of this since the coalition announced the war.”<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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