IS caliphate soon will be gone, Trump says

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump predicted Wednesday that the Islamic State group will have lost by next week all the territory it once controlled in Iraq and Syria. He said the U.S. will not relent in fighting remnants of the extremist organization despite his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria over the objections of some of his most senior national-security advisers.

The president told representatives of a 79-member, U.s.led coalition fighting IS that the militants hold a tiny percentage of the vast territory they claimed as their “caliphate.”

“It should be formally announced sometime, probably next week, that we will have 100 percent of the caliphate,” Trump said.

U.S. officials have said in recent weeks that IS had lost 99.5 percent of its territory and is holding on to less than 2 square miles, in the villages of the Middle Euphrates River Valley.

There are fears the impending U.S. pullout will imperil those gains, but Trump told coalition members meeting at the State Department that while “remnants” of the group are still dangerous, he is determined to bring U.S. troops home. He called on coalition members to step up and do their “fair share” in the fight against terrorism.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the coalition that the planned withdrawal “is not a change in the mission” but a change in tactics against a group that should still be considered a menace.

“In this new era, local law enforcement and information sharing will be crucial, and our fight will not necessarily always be military-led,” he said. “The fight is one that we will continue to wage alongside of you.”

But Maj. Gen. James Hecker, vice director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the House Armed Services Committee that the withdrawal means “it is going to be difficult to keep up the pressure” on IS.

“So our mission is to try to figure out how we can continue to keep the pressure on in Syria without any boots on the ground,” Hecker said.

Rami Abdurrahman, the head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said IS still has 4,000 to 5,000 fighters, many likely hiding out in desert caves and mountains.