MIDEAST
IS militants losing territory in Iraq, Syria
September 1, 2017 - The so-called Islamic State (IS) group has suffered a series of major defeats in recent months that have left its “caliphate” straddling Syria and Iraq in tatters, three years after it was declared.
With Baghdad's announcement on Aug 31 that Nineveh province is back under Iraqi government control, IS has been ejected from one of its last bastions in Iraq.
In Syria, under separate attacks from a U.S.-led coalition and from the Russian-backed Syrian army, IS is falling back on its strongholds along the Euphrates valley east of Raqqa, the de facto capital of its self-styled caliphate.