Trump’s ISIS Claim Goes to the Dogs

 https://www.factcheck.org/2019/11/trumps-isis-claim-goes-to-the-dogs/

About a month before Trump was sworn in, the U.S. commander of the coalition operation — Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve — said that “almost three million people and more than 44,000 square kilometers of territory have been liberated” from ISIS in 2016. That’s nearly 17,000 square miles.

Estimates of the Islamic State-held land vary. Figures from IHS Markit, an analytics and consultancy firm, show a smaller percentage of land recovered under Obama, but still refute Trump’s claim that the coalition forces had “almost nothing” before he was inaugurated. IHS Markit’s estimates would put the recovery under Obama at 33%.

Near its height in January 2015, the Islamic State caliphate in Iraq and Syria covered about 35,000 square miles, IHS Markit said. When Trump took office in January 2017, that was down to about 23,300 square miles.

The rate of recapture did accelerate under Trump, according to the firm’s figures, which show the caliphate comprised about 14,000 square miles by June 2017.