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U.S. Says More than 10,000 Jihadists Killed since Coalition Raids
[AnNahar] More than 10,000 jihadists have been killed in air strikes against the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
 group over a nine-month coalition campaign, U.S. deputy secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Wednesday.
So five thousand each in Iraq and Syria?
"We have seen enormous losses from Daesh (IS), more than 10,000 since the beginning of the campaign and this will end up having an impact," Blinken told French radio, without specifying whether the losses were in Iraq or Syria.

Blinken was speaking a day after an international conference in Gay Paree in which 20 or so representatives of the anti-IS coalition pledged support for Baghdad's plan to claw back territory from the marauding jihadists who have conquered large parts of Iraq and Syria.

The coalition's strategy has been criticised for relying on air strikes without committing boots on the ground, but Blinken stressed there had been "significant progress".

Islamic State now controls "25 percent less of Iraq after nine months, a lot of their equipment has been destroyed and many Daesh members have been eliminated," said Blinken.

He nevertheless acknowledged the "resilience" of the group after the coalition has launched about 4,000 air strikes on them.

In a separate French radio interview, Iraq's ambassador to La Belle France, Fareed Yasseen, said the allies had heeded Baghdad's calls for more weapons to combat the group.

"The Americans have promised us and will shortly deliver missiles that will make the difference against these truck bombs ... which made us lose Ramadi," a key Iraqi city close to the capital.

"The French will be giving us similar weapons, ammunition and we are discussing other cooperation projects," the ambassador told Europe 1 radio.
Ynet adds:
Western and Arab states carrying out air strikes on Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
 fighters backed Iraq's plan for retaking territory on Tuesday, after being accused by the Iraqi premier of not doing enough to help Baghdad push back the krazed killers.

"At the start of this campaign (we) said it would take time," Blinken said. "We have conceived a three-year plan and we're nine months into it."
Posted by: trailing wife 2015-06-04
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=419619