More
than 25,000 members of the Islamic State terror group have been killed
in the relentless war fought by Britain and its allies, The Mail on
Sunday can reveal.
The
campaign has halved the number of jihadi fighters in IS-controlled
areas of Syria and Iraq in just 20 months and eliminated scores of the
group's leaders, with bombing raids and missile strikes by the RAF
playing a crucial role.
The
revelations of how IS has been dealt a series of devastating blows
emerged in an exclusive interview with Colonel Steve Warren, the US
military spokesman for the US-led global coalition against Islamic
State.
The campaign has halved the number of
jihadi fighters in IS-controlled areas of Syria and Iraq in just 20
months and eliminated scores of the group's leaders, with bombing raids
and missile strikes by the RAF playing a crucial role
Col Warren revealed:
- The terror group's ability to make millions of dollars every day selling oil on the black market and pay its army of jihadis has been vastly reduced by repeated air attacks on IS-held oilfields;
- Coalition forces are preparing to mount a final assault on their stronghold of Raqqa in Syria;
- The remains of Jihadi John were 'like a greasy spot on the ground', according to the first eyewitness account of the drone strike that killed the British executioner.
Col
Warren said: 'Much like a boxer, Daesh [Islamic State] has taken
several hard blows to the mid-section. We believe the knees are getting
weak, and the head is starting to drop, and they are beginning to feel
the effect of the exceptional pressure we've placed on them over 20
months.'
He
said 600 fighters had been killed in the past three weeks alone, and
recent precision drone strikes and covert Special Forces missions to
take out senior leaders had left the extremists 'paranoid and in chaos'.
Eliminated: Mohammed Emwazi, aka Jihadi John, was one of the ISIS jihadis who was killed in recent months
The RAF is using ten Tornado GR4 jets
(pictured), six Typhoon combat aircraft, and Reaper drones, piloted
3,000 miles away in Lincolnshire.
Strikes
on IS-held oilfields had seen its cash flow slashed by a third –
leading to a 50 per cent pay cut for its fighters – and, with the help
of 650 RAF strikes, the group had been forced to flee from 40 per cent
of territory it once held in northern Iraq.
Col
Warren's comments came in the face of mounting criticism that the
coalition mission to 'degrade and destroy IS' was faltering, as almost
two years of air strikes have not been able to destroy the army of
fanatics.
Islamic
State extremists seized swathes of eastern Syria in 2014 during its
bloody civil war, before sweeping into northern Iraq and proclaiming
itself an Islamic caliphate. However, Col Warren said the terror group
now appeared to be on the back foot, and announced a huge bombing
campaign would soon be unleashed on its capital, Raqqa, to pave the way
for a ground attack by Kurdish troops.
He added: 'We are not going to telegraph our timeline, because it is something they [IS] want to know, but it is coming.'
Col Warren claimed that half of the IS fighting force was now dead, and the group may have fewer than 30,000 soldiers left
The coalition has killed more than 100
leaders, including Omar al-Shishani, (pictured) IS's reputed 'Minister
for War', who had a £3 million bounty placed on his head
Speaking
from his base in Baghdad, he also said it was only a matter of time
before either a US or a British drone targeted the elusive IS leader,
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Britain
began air strikes in Iraq in September 2014 as part of a global force
to wipe out IS. Last December, Parliament voted to extend the RAF's
mission to hit targets in Syria. So far, British pilots have flown more
than 2,200 sorties and made 640 air strikes against IS targets in both
countries.
The RAF is using ten Tornado GR4 jets, six Typhoon combat aircraft, and Reaper drones, piloted 3,000 miles away in Lincolnshire.
Col
Warren said the coalition had been targeting IS in a 'three-pronged
attack' by hitting battlefield fighters, taking out leaders in precision
strikes and attacking oilfields.
Other
IS industrial targets being hit were arms depots and warehouses where
the group stored hundreds of millions of pounds in local currencies and
US dollars.
'Using
intelligence methods, we can discover where this cash is and just
incinerate them from the air, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars
which we have seen go up in smoke,' he said.
Col Warren claimed that half of the IS fighting force was now dead, and the group may have fewer than 30,000 soldiers left.
And the flow of new recruits has slowed, thanks to better enforcement of border controls by neighbouring Turkey.
The
killing of IS chiefs has mainly been through drone strikes, but on at
least two occasions US Special Forces have been deployed to kill key
leaders of the group, he said.
The
coalition has killed more than 100 leaders, including Omar al-Shishani,
IS's reputed 'Minister for War', who had a £3 million bounty placed on
his head.
Shishani was killed in an air strike last month in Shadadi in eastern Syria, where he was sent to bolster flagging IS fighters.
HOW THE MISSILE STRIKE BY BRITISH JETS HAS FORCED PAYCUTS ON I.S. FIGHTING UNITS
With
ruthless precision, a British pilot targets a lucrative Islamic State
oilfield before unleashing a devastating missile strike.
The
recent attack by RAF Typhoon and Tornado jets on the al-Omar oilfield
in eastern Syria was part of a coalition bombing campaign on facilities
held by the terror group, aimed at severing its cash lifeline.
More than 25,000 members of the
Islamic State terror group have been killed in the relentless war fought
by Britain and its allies
The
jihadis were estimated to be earning £1 million a day on the oil black
market last summer but strikes have reduced that income by a third. As a
result, jihadi fighters have had their pay cut by 50 per cent to
between £140 and £500 per month, depending on rank.
Elsewhere,
US air strikes helped Kurdish militia overthrow IS at the al-Jabsah
oilfield in January – the first oilfield IS had lost since seizing much
of eastern Syria in 2014.
The strategy heaps pressure on the terror group, as the allies continue to blitz its fighters and take out its leaders.
With ruthless precision, a British
pilot targets a lucrative Islamic State oilfield, pictured, before
unleashing a devastating missile strike
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