Trump: Almost all ISIS territory reclaimed

President Donald Trump said Wednesday he expects to announce next week that the United States and its partners have retaken 100 percent of Islamic State (ISIS) territory in Iraq and Syria. “Thanks to the global coalition, including all of you here today and to our other partners, the ISIS caliphate has been decimated,” he said during a meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS at the State Department in Washington. The meeting included foreign ministers and senior officials from the 79-member coalition.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told those gathered that while American forces are leaving Syria, the United States will not cede its leadership in the effort to completely erase the terror group: “We all know that there is more work ahead of us. The recent suicide bombing in Manbij incident shows that ISIS remains a dangerous threat in territory it does not control.” He was referencing a January attack in a Syrian town that killed 18 people, including four Americans. Pompeo also said the nature of the fight is changing, and the coalition must step up efforts to root out ISIS sleeper cells. Some allies in Syria and elsewhere have expressed concern that the U.S. troop pullout will allow terror groups to resurge in the region.