The Iraqi army says the territory held by the Daesh terrorist group in the Arab country has shrunk from 40 percent to less than seven percent over the past three years.
"Daesh controlled 40 percent of Iraqi land" in 2014, but “as of March 31 (2017), they only held 6.8 percent of Iraqi territory," Iraq’s Joint Operations Command (JOC) spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Rasool told a press conference in Baghdad on Tuesday.
Daesh began its campaign of death and destruction in northern and western Iraq in 2014.
Iraqi army soldiers and allied fighters are leading operations to win back militant-held regions.
Over the past almost two years, Daesh has been losing ground steadily, and thus increased its acts of violence in revenge for the blows it has been suffering at the hand of Iraqi forces, particularly in the northern city of Mosul.
The Mosul liberation operation began last October. Iraqi forces took control of eastern Mosul in January and launched the battle in the west in February.
The full liberation of Mosul, Daesh’s last major city stronghold in Iraq, would likely spell the end for the terror outfit’s so-called caliphate.
