Islamic State cedes little ground despite air attacks

Smoke raises behind an Islamic State flag after Iraqi security forces and Shiite canada goose coats fighters canada goose store took control of Saadiya in Diyala province from Islamist State militants, November 24, canada goose outlet store 2014. REUTERS/StringerAcross thousands of square miles in Syria and Iraq, the radical Islamists uk canada goose outlet face an unlikely Canada Goose Outlet mix of Iraqi and Syrian soldiers, Shi and Kurdish militias and rival Syrian Sunni Muslim rebels.While they have lost towns on the edges of their Iraqi realm, especially in ethnically mixed areas where their hardline Sunni theology holds little appeal, uk canada goose they have consolidated power in parts of their Sunni Muslim heartland.In August, Islamic State attack on Iraqi Kurdish regions was repulsed and two months later its fighters were driven from buy canada goose jacket cheap the town of Jurf al Sakhar, south of Canada Goose Online Baghdad. It was canada goose clearance sale also pushed out of two towns near the Iranian border last month.But with a few exceptions, such as the army breaking of an Islamic State siege of the country largest oil refinery in Baiji, the militants hold over predominantly Sunni provinces north and canadian goose jacket west of Baghdad buy canada goose jacket has not been seriously challenged.Islamic State opponents say the recaptured towns show the thecanadagooseoutlet tide has turned in Iraq and the group is on the defensive.best they can do now is to cut a road or attack a patrol, but any advances and gains of territory have been completely stopped. said Hadi al Amiri, head of the Badr Organization, a Shi militia which along with Kurdish peshmerga spearheaded the recapture of Saadiya and Jalawla, near the Iranian border. despatch of more military advisers to Iraq showed the opposite was true.Crusaders air strikes and constant bombardment day and night of Islamic State positions have not prevented canada goose coats on sale its advance, he said.In fact, since Islamic State June offensive, it has had little success breaking beyond the solidly Sunni Muslim provinces of Anbar in the west and Salahuddin north of Baghdad, as well as the strongly Sunni province of Nineveh, home to the city of Mosul which the Islamists overran in June.Iraqi security expert canada goose uk shop Hisham al Hashemi said the picture across Iraq overall was a stalemate, Canada Goose Jackets with government forces regaining some territory but Islamic Canada Goose sale State imposing itself canada goose uk black friday more forcefully at its core.He said cheap Canada Goose Islamic State now controls 85 percent of Anbar province, where it is attacking the provincial capital Ramadi and has killed hundreds of Sunni tribesmen who opposed it.tipping point for defeating them in my view is when we win over the Sunni Arab tribes in Anbar, Salahuddin and Canada Goose Parka Nineveh. has few allies on the ground Canada Goose Coats On Sale backing up its air offensive.Washington has been clear that its policy in Syria is modest compared to Iraq, focusing on preventing Islamic State moving across the border and on hitting its command and control.But the militants in Syria, and Western canada goose analysts, say the air campaign has failed to weaken them. is pursuing a in Syria, hamstrung by conflicting priorities of dealing cheap canada goose uk with Islamic State and President Bashar al Assad.Islamic State supporters say the air strikes have helped the canada goose black friday sale group Canada Goose online win support among residents and also attracted more fighters.they think bombing us will scare us and we will just run home? said a fighter in the IS controlled city of Raqqa.the whole world is trying to canada goose factory sale save Kobani we are expanding and growing in Iraq and Syria, he said, referring to the battle for the Kurdish border town in north Syria.The Pentagon said last month the strikes in Syria had hit Islamic State resources including oil installations, command facilities canada goose clearance and training camps.know that they continue canada goose uk outlet to attract people to their ranks, he said. don wipe that out through air strikes, and you certainly don do it in 90 days.