The Islamic State has lost its holdings in Syria but has now moved across the border into a remote space in Iraq while it seeks to re-establish its physical caliphate, according to military officials.
"The fight against ISIS is continuous," U.S. Marine Corps Brig. Gen. William Seely, commander of Task Force-Iraq told NBC News."We're seeing ISIS fighters move from Syria across hundreds of miles of desert."
Just five years ago, ISIS was in control of areas across Syria and Iraq, holding 34,000 square miles and having control of 10 million people in an area it called its caliphate. President Donald Trump said in a tweet last month that the U.S. had defeated "100% of the ISIS Caliphate"
The Defense Department's inspector general, in a recent report, said ISIS remains a threat, and former Defense Secretary James Mattis also warned that ISIS could return after Trump pulled troops from Syria's border.
ISIS has moved into a remote Northern Iraq valley, controlled by Kurds on one side and Iraq's army on the other, but there are areas where neither side is patrolling.
"They have some tunnels, they have some caves, and they are moving, especially at night," said Gen. Sirwan Barzani, the commander of the Kurdish forces.
He said he and his troops see the ISIS fighters walking, driving, and riding motorcycles, and locals are not given a choice about them being there.
"They'll come out of that area at night, let's say, and go down to a city or a farm or village and shake down the whole population and extract resources," said Maj. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, deputy commander of Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve.
"I think it's the place where they have the designs to re-establish the physical caliphate and if they could, I think they would do it here. Syria in my mind is more of a support zone for them," he added.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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