U.S. Commander in Iraq: Somewhere Between 12,000-15,000 ISIS Fighters Remaining in Iraq and Syria
(CNSNews.com) - Lt.-Gen. Stephen Townsend, the commander of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, told reporters on Wednesday there are between 12,000 and 15,000 ISIS fighters right now in Iraq and Syria, with around 2,000 of them isolated in and around western Mosul.
Townsend said many of the ISIS fighters are hiding among civilians, and some fighters are slipping out of Mosul in refugee flows.
"So are there ISIS fighters, you know, concealing themselves in the flow of displaced persons coming out of Mosul? Yes," Townsend said. "In fact, the Iraqi security forces have caught some of those."
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