Daesh territory shrinks in Iraq Syria: Coalition

(MENAFN- Arab News) BAGHDAD: Daesh's territory shrank by 40 percent from its maximum expansion in Iraq and by 20 percent in Syria in 2015 as international forces pushed its militants out of several cities a spokesman of the US-led coalition said on Tuesday.
Daesh had not taken 'a single inch of land' since May 2015 when it captured Ramadi Warren said. Its forces were in a 'defensive crouching position' US Army Col. Steve Warren told a news briefing in Baghdad.
He said more than 100 Daesh terrorists were killed without giving a figure for casualties on the Iraqi government side.
'Every one of these Daesh attacks has been broken by a combination of coalition air power and Iraqi security forces' he said.
He said Daesh was diverting attacks to Haditha 190 km northwest of Baghdad after losing Ramadi the capital of the western province of Anbar.
Warren denied claims by the group on Monday that it had captured Barwana and Sakran two towns near Haditha.
Coalition airstrikes helped the Iraqi Army repel a first onslaught toward Haditha on Monday by about 200 militants Warren told a news briefing in Baghdad.