Islamic State’s hold on territory may be slipping,but attacks in Paris, Tripoli and elsewhere present an international potency it did not acquire a year agoWith French jets pounding the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa, and US planes targeting its oil tankers and Kurdish forces splitting a supply line from Mosul to Raqqa,the past three days acquire been among the most difficult that the terror group has faced in its self-declared caliphate.
As the dust settles, Isis’s hold on its original territory and revenues is, and perhaps for the first time,showing signs of slipping. The group has lost control of the highway linking the two main hubs of its heartland. And the parallel oil trade, which had generated as much as $40m (£26m) a month even while refineries were being bombed, and is now in jeopardy.
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Source: theguardian.com