Army Lieutenant General Paul Funk, commanding general of Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve, said that the hateful ideology of the Islamic State is still a global threat even tough most of its territory has been retaken. The American general posted a video message on Operation Inherent Resolve’s official Facebook page and reported about the successes of the coalition. He also warned that there was still work to do to combat the ideology of ISIS, especially online, The Hill reports.
“Their repressive ideology continues. The conditions remain present for Daesh to return, and only through coalition and international efforts can the defeat become permanent. We enter 2018 confident that increased security will enable the global coalition to further assist the Iraqi and Syrian people,” Funk stated.
According to the U.S. general commanding forces who fight against ISIS, the group has lost 98 percent of the land it claimed and 7.7 million people have been liberated from its control. Funk said that the coalition, that has grown to 74 nations, reclaimed 65,000 square kilometers of land from ISIS last year, Bloomberg reports.
President Donald Trump posted a video on Twitter account that highlighted his first year in office and included an excerpt from a speech in which he promised to defeat radical Islamic terrorism and not allow it to take root in the United States.
Funk’s message comes several days after FBI agents raided the home of Sean Andrew Duncan in Virginia. Duncan wanted to join the Islamic State and attack the United States. He was arrested on charges of attempting to obstruct a terrorism investigation and that he had tried to dispose of evidence when law enforcement showed up at his house.
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