UK Daily Mail . . . "ISIS' fierce reputation rested partly on the willingness of hardcore militants to fight to the last man, and the militants rarely surrendered.
"But many of the fanatical foreign fighters who initially provided the leadership have been killed and those remaining on the battlefield are conscripts, who often lack the will to fight." . . .
. . . "'They're coming out with their hands up, putting their weapons down – full scale surrender,' Funk said. 'It's a growing trend.'
"'What we are hearing (from those who surrendered) is, 'Our leaders have abandoned us, we haven't been fed, we haven't been paid,' Funk said.
"Last week ISIS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi released an audio exhorting his fighters to continue the battle. 'I don't think he's having much of an effect,' Funk said. The day after the audio was released, several hundred fighters surrendered.
"Fighters who surrendered or are captured are held by Iraqi or Kurdish forces.
"ISIS swept into Iraq from Syria in 2014, capturing large swaths of territory. From a mosque in Mosul, al-Baghdadi announced the establishment of the group's so-called caliphate.
"Today, as few as 3,000 militants might remain in Iraq in Syria, down from estimates up to 30,000, though officials caution that the numbers aren't a good measure of the group's strength." . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment