ISIS has lost nearly half the area it held in Iraq — Pentagon

Demonstrators at a rally supporting Kurdistan hold placards protesting against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in front of the White House on August 16, 2014 in Washington, DC. The Pentagon said on Monday, May 16, 2016, that ISIS has lost almost half of territory it once held in Iraq. AFP FILE PHOTO/Mandel NGAN

WASHINGTON, United States — The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group has continued losing control over territory across Iraq and Syria, a Pentagon spokesman said Monday, including almost half of what it had once held in Iraq.

The Defense Department had previously estimated that ISIS fighters had lost control of about 40 percent of the territory they claimed in Syria and about 10 percent of the land they held in Syria.

Those tallies had gone up in recent weeks, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said.

“The number right now in Iraq is about 45 percent of the territory they once held has been recovered,” Cook said.

“The number in Syria is anywhere between 16 to 20 percent.”

ISIS jihadists stormed across large parts of Iraq and Syria in early 2014, meeting little resistance from Iraqi security forces and exploiting the chaos in civil-war-torn Syria.

Since August 2014, the United States has led an international coalition fighting back against the ISIS group, using a combination of air strikes and training and equipping local partners.

ISIS fighters have lost control of Ramadi and Heet in Iraq, but still control other important cities including Mosul and Fallujah.

In Syria, the group maintains control of Raqa, the capital of their so-called caliphate.