"Int coalition" has dismantled ISIS from nearly 98 % of Syrian and Iraqi territories

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned Tuesday of the need to remain focused on an "enduring defeat" of the Islamic State group, even though the militants have largely been ousted from the areas the once controlled in Iraq and Syria.


Tillerson spoke at a conference in Kuwait for members of the coalition the United States set up in late 2014 with a multi-prong strategy of countering Islamic State, including through U.S.-led airstrikes and working to cut off the group's financing and flow of foreign fighters.

"ISIS remains a serious threat to the stability of the region, our homelands and other parts of the globe," he said, using an acronym for the group.

Tillerson said the militants are no longer in control of 98 percent of the territory they held at their height in 2014 when they declared the establishment of a caliphate in Iraq and Syria, but that they now pose a different threat.
 voanews.com
 13/2/18