Islamic State Is Losing Territory In Iraq

L.A. Times: Islamic State suffers serious reversals in northern Iraq

Peering from his trench on a ridgeline fortified with sandbags, the Kurdish commander gazed toward an Islamic State-held village next to a swath of territory recently seized from the extremist forces. Smoke wafted into the sky from natural gas burning off a well in a broad basin known as Wadi al Naft, or Valley of Oil, west of Kirkuk, Iraq's strategic northern energy hub.

"Daesh is weaker now, no doubt," said Hussein Yazdanpana, who heads an Iranian-Kurdish front-line unit, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State. "We've heard that many of their fighters are running away," said the militiaman, who incongruously wore an American flag pocket patch — a gift from "Jack," one of the U.S. military advisors here.

Update: ISIS Has Lost 25 Percent of Territory It Once Held in Iraq, US Says (AP)

WNU Editor: For the past few months I have been hearing the same story .... the Islamic State is losing ground, men, and influence .... but for some reason they always seem to rise from the ashes and surprise us with a new offensive. What is my take on the eventual outcome .... this is going to be a very long war .... and there is now a real possibility that parts of Iraq and Syria are going to be ungovernable by any central authority for decades .... in short .... territory that the Islamic State will probably always control.